Hopes and Dreams
by Babi
Summary: "Perhaps one day, maybe in a year or even in a century, you'll turn up at my door." She had never asked what his dreams and hopes were, but if she did he would repeat those words, for she became his hope. But not even in his wildest dreams he thought she would actually come, and definitely not so soon. Takes place after 4x13/14 then AU. KC only.
1. Love

.

**Hopes and Dreams**

**I**

* * *

She didn't expect it. How could she be so stupid? How could she think like the girl she used to be before she turned? How could she believe one if _his _words? Still she did and that was now going to cost her life. He said he would never allow Tyler to hurt her, and she believed _he_ would never hurt her. She should have known one thing didn't automatically mean the other, after all the same night he assured her he wouldn't allow _her boyfriend_ to hurt her, he threatened her life. _That_ was the part she should have believed. Control. That was what he wanted. He would control others not to hurt her, but he wouldn't restraint himself from doing it.

_Klaus_ was like Katherine before him. The first doppelganger didn't think twice before killing her to send a message to the Salvatores. Klaus didn't think twice before biting her to send a message to Tyler. Everyone still thought she was nothing, not worthy a damn thing. Except for this one boy that loved her so much and whom she loved back.

As Tyler carried her back to Elena's house, she hoped her boyfriend was right. He had asked her if she trusted him. Of course she did. The only two people she trusted were him and her mother. If she was honest she also trusted Bonnie, Stefan, maybe even Damon, but she knew Elena would always come first to them. Then there was Elena, but she was too focused on her own life to think about anyone else. Not that Caroline could blame her friend. Elena was sired to the man she was in love with, but she had always denied her feelings for him. Caroline was positiveof Elena being in love with Damon for a few months, but she was also sure the baby vampire loved Stefan more. And unlike the words she said when Rebekah compelled the brunette; the blonde baby vampire didn't believe her childhood friend fell out of love with Stefan. She knew for sure Elena not only was still in love with Stefan, but that she loved him more than she loved Damon. Caroline however learned her lesson well when it came to the 'triangle of doom.' She was going to keep herself out of it, even if she wanted to help Stefan. Elena was bound to Damon, through a sire bond and until it was broken, no one would be able to change her mind about Damon and Stefan. But why was Caroline thinking about them in her last moments of life?

This time the effects seemed stronger than the first time. There were no hallucinations, but she felt the life leaving her body steadily. Tyler believed Klaus wouldn't be able to let her die and she hoped her boyfriend was correct because the last thing she wanted was to spend yet another minute in the presence of the monster that destroyed her boyfriend's life.

"You want to be in control, Klaus? Here, now you get to be in control of her life. If you want her to die, fine, but then you can sit here and watch her die yourself," Tyler challenged before walking away.

"Nothing personal love, but if I cure you, that means victory for him," he confirmed her previous thoughts as he approached her. That was it, he was really going to leave her to die and she hated herself for believing he fancied her. She hated herself for thinking he more than fancied her. She had never felt so stupid in her life like now.

"Don't worry, it won't be long now," he offered serenely and she was shocked to see how cold he could be _even_ with her. In that moment realization hit Caroline and she knew for sure she was going to die.

* * *

Time went by slowly, although she had so little energy and strength in her, she had been able to move herself to the couch a few hours ago. Now however she could barely breathe. The pain was all consuming and she felt like she was losing control over her mind. She was on verge of dying or hallucinating and she didn't know which would happen first or which she would have preferred. She hallucinated a little bit the first time, before Klaus went to her house. It numbed the pain partially, and it was better than feeling like her body was shutting down constantly, all of it at the same time.

"If you don't feed me your blood I'll die," she murmured, the words barely leaving her lips.

"And if you died, Tyler would have learned his lesson the hard way," he said without looking at her.

"How could you have done this to him? To his mom? To me?" she asked trying to break him from the emotionless demeanor he had while he leaned against the doorframe.

"I'm a thousand years old. Call it boredom,"

"I don't believe you,"

"Fine, then maybe it's because I'm pure evil and I can't help myself," he faced the true – and painful – reality of his existence. Love was a weakness and it proved just as much after they killed his brother. He felt like the life had been taken away from him when he saw his baby brother on fire, gone for good. That was why he forced himself to never feel anything. That was why he was fiery and ruthless. That was why he killed even when he didn't need to. Because that was what kept him uncaring and cold. Killing, torturing, destroying people's lives was what allowed him to be the man he needed to be in order to survive. He couldn't – shouldn't – trust anyone; he couldn't allow himself to have any weakness. Yet still there was a part inside of him that was matter how much he tried to destroy it by the inhuman and unthinkable things he had done in a thousand years, it never went away completely. It was still there reminding him he would never be able to completely get rid of that weakness.

Caroline looked at him briefly and it all made sense. The superficial careless demeanor was just a façade to keep what he really felt under the surface. He was hurt. He killed Carol because he was hurt; he bit her earlier because he was hurt. Losing his hybrids hurt him, and of course, losing his brother devastated him. She could see it in his eyes the moments he stole glances on Kol's now covered body. She could see how his body tensed when he looked briefly at his dead brother. And even though she felt she was less and less lucid she could still capture the torture, the pain, the desperation, the lost look on his face. He controlled all his body reactions, but his eyes… his eyes still showed her what was going on inside, in his soul. He had the most expressive eyes she had ever seen.

"No… it's because you're hurt," she offered among breaths ragged by the consuming pain she felt, and although it wasn't her goal to make him look at her, it still did.

"Which means there's a part of you that is human," she concluded, much to her shock. It was the first time she thought about it and she knew she was right. She could finally see the tip of humanity within him. She had suspected of it before. That was why she asked him if he ever wanted to be human when they were spending time in the pageant. She had seen him show humanity towards his art – and art in general – for it was one of his passions. She knew he cared for his siblings – even if many of his actions contradicted it. She had seen a carefree – almost boyish – side of him when he made fun of her Miss Mystic Falls application. But somewhere along the way – probably as a consequence of all the pain he caused to everyone she loved – she could only see him as someone heartless, as someone who couldn't feel. How wrong and silly she had been. Of course he had feelings; he just chose to deny them with everything he had. But now his brother was dead, and she supposed it was harder for him to keep the constant indifferent façade on.

Klaus – on his side – was also shocked by her words, not only because he had never expected anyone to ever see through him, but also by how accurate she was. How could she read him like that? How could she _know_ that? Hadn't his acts proved there was nothing human about him? Hadn't he put all his efforts to prove it to the world he had no weakness at all? He worked so hard on getting rid of any trace of humanity that most time _he_ believed his lies and pretenses.

"How could you possibly think that?" he sat in front of her.

She could see that he wanted to convince her that it was impossible for someone like him to feel something like hurt or anything for that matter. He wanted her to see how her words made no sense at all. But Caroline knew better than that.

"Because I've seen it. Because I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things that you've done," her eyes running through his face, fixing on his eyes, recognizing the man she had seen only glimpses before. Still those small pieces of him had been enough to prove her that there was a part of him nobody knew, a part of him he made sure to keep well hidden. A part of him he involuntarily showed her before. More than once. She asked herself if he was even aware he let it show or if he made it on purpose as his own trick to manipulate her into believing something that was not real. She doubted it. She didn't know much about the man sitting in front of her, but she knew he didn't like to show any weakness and it was clear that emotions were weaknesses in Niklaus Mikaelson's book.

"But you can't, can you?" he stated more than asked. She thought he would be hopeful, but he seemed just convinced that it was impossible. And because she didn't know what would be the true answer to his question she decided to ignore it, even if it would lead him to believe she couldn't. She wouldn't confess to him that sometimes – when they were together – even if only for a few seconds, she forgot all the bad he had done. But maybe he had done more than she could really forget. How could she ever let him get away with killing her boyfriend's mother? No matter how drawn she was to the Original, she still loved Tyler more than anyone else in her life and her loyalties would always stand with her boyfriend.

"I know that you're in love with me," she daredto say, and she could see the emotions – he tried so hard to suppress and deny – flashing on his eyes; she could see the way his jaw tensed, as he tried to keep his composure, his wrists closed.

"And anybody capable of love is capable of being saved," she completed, and she watched almost in awe as he nearly cried in front of her. She could see the fight; she could see the moment his façade was winning and the moment when he started losing it. She could see the hope daring to emerge and how fiercely he fought it. Trying to keep it at bay, trying to vanish it because if he dared hope, he was damned.

"You're hallucinating," she watched as he said, and in that moment he seemed to try to find strength to form words more than she did. She didn't know if he was trying to convince himself or her. It didn't matter because she could already feel the unavoidable and final pull from death, she could feel the remaining of life leaving her body, but at least she knew she would have said those words to him before she died. She would have tried to show him that there was hope even for him, that he could indeed be saved… and loved.

"I guess I'll never know," she said, although those weren't the words she planned to say and maybe he was right and she was hallucinating after before she could try to find in her mind what she really wanted to say she felt a different pain taking over her body, and she couldn't stop her body from shaking. She thought she heard him say her name, but she wasn't sure.

Klaus felt his heart beating in a speed he didn't even think possible anymore. Not even when his brother died in front of him the night before he felt his nearly undead heart beating so fast, so erratically.

"Caroline," desperation hit him as he called her name a second time and still she didn't answer.

He knew she would die and he knew he didn't have much time to make a decision. He should let her die, he had to keep his word, he had to show those people –Tyler especially – that he was as ruthless as ever. He had showed too much mercy towards the people in this town. He should have killed them all – but her – a long time ago, after they tried to kill him the first time. He knew allowing her to live not only gave Tyler victory, but also showed everyone who wanted to see it that he had a weakness, that there was something stronger than his will to feel nothing.

As an almost silent moan left her lips and her body seemed to relax he made a decision, hoping it wasn't already too late. He moved to the couch, raising her body and bringing her head to rest on his chest, as he bit his own wrist and offered it to her mouth, hoping she would suck it. Praying she would drink from him.

It took her a second – or two – but he could finally feel her fangs entering his ripped flesh and her lips embracing his skin. His heart – that had stopped for a moment –resumedits slow pace, and as she moved her hand to hold his arm, he stroked her hair, feeling the ecstasy of sharing blood with her even more intensely than he felt the first time. He could hear her soft moans from pain – but also from pleasure, he knew. Then he felt her free hand reaching for his own. The moment her cold fingers touched his he almost lost it, for her touch was much tenderer and produced much more joy than he had expected.

He continued to brush her hair, feeling her taking his life away as she sucked him in, in more ways than just physically. She was still weak and he knew he had indeed been seconds away from losing her forever. She took her time drinking from him, not being able to drink faster, but he didn't mind. He was holding her and she wasn't objecting and for a moment it almost felt like she was caressing his hand the same way he was caressing her hair.

She didn't know if it was the exhaustion or the soft and soothing touch of his hand, but her eyelids were too heavy for her to keep them open, and her body didn't seem to have energy to keep sucking from him and consciousness slowly left her.

He realized the exactly moment she fell asleep, the moment she stopped drinking from him, even if her fangs took a few seconds longer to retract. But he couldn't move himself from behind her. He couldn't let her go as the words she said kept coming back to him.

He couldn't believe them; she was probably hallucinating, or worse, manipulating him like she had done so many times before. Either way she didn't mean those words and, therefore, they couldn't be true. There was no hope of salvation for him, not after so many years, not after so many crimes, so many sins. He was hopeless because otherwise he would be fooling himself. There was nothing left for him now that he lost his hybrids and the doppelganger bloodline died with Elena. He couldn't risk to make Elena become human again, and between his hybrids – that proved to be easily un-sired, and his sister last attempt on happiness, he chose Rebekah. It was the least he could do _for_ her after everything he did _to_ her. She had been with him through everything, never leaving his side, he owed her as much.

It didn't go unnoticed by him that such thoughts wouldn't have crossed his mind a year ago. He had always loved all his siblings – Rebekah especially – and he would always continue to do so, but he would always put himself first for he knew nobody else would. But somewhere in the past few months he found himself feeling guilty for all the times he betrayed Rebekah – and recently he'd been thinking about Elijah as well. It was a foreign experience that could have been a result of learning that not even his sired hybrids could be the ever loyal family he needed, but he knew better than that. The main reason of that change of heart was now lying against his dark cold broken heart.

Caroline could be aware of his feelings – that he had never acknowledged even to himself – but she didn't have a clue about her impact in his life. It wasn't her actions, it wasn't her doing. It was simply a consequence of him falling in love with her. And it scared him. He had no control over his emotions towards this one girl, and now he felt like everything he had suppressed for a thousand years hit him like a tidal wave. The danger wasn't in finally loving someone; it in the power it seemed to have. He knew deep down that Caroline was about to open a gate that had been closed for a longer than a millennium. A gate that prevented any sort of emotion to ever come to the surface. And as each year passed, he added more suppressed and contained emotions inside this place in his heart. With every life he took, with every plea he ignored, with every disappointment, betrayal and hatred action towards him, he buried every human reaction in that little room. The only problem was that it wasn't just a little room anymore, not after a thousand years of bottled up emotions.

As he held a sleeping Caroline he wondered if she had only been the last straw, the one that he couldn't hold back because the once small place inside himself where he hid his every emotion was now the biggest part of himself. He had committed too many sins to cover the sneaking emotions, and those sins caused even more emotions. Regret, pain, angst, suffering. It should all feel natural to him – as everyone expected – but it wasn't. He wondered if his werewolf side made him more human than his siblings because he wasn't completely vampire, completely monster, completely aberration as he wanted to be.

And now he could feel the lock giving up, he could feel the walls succumbing, he could feel everything he ever felt, but rejected, coming back to him and he didn't need to be as wise as he was to know he was closing in dangerous territory. _Unknown _territory. After living for so long Klaus wasn't familiar with the unknown anymore. He'd seen it all, but he hadn't seen a man recover from a tsunami of feelings that he bottled up for so long. None of his siblings did it. Even Kol showed emotion from time to time, but he had kept it all in. Until Caroline, until now. And feeling his emotions about to take over he feared for his survival. He had barely survived those fifty two years of hallucinations, but he was positive what he was about to enter was much worse. And even if he had killed Caroline that night – as he had truly intended to – it would have been too late. It would have been too much. He was indeed _absolutely, unquestionably, undeniably_ in love with her and if he lost her now, he would lose himself along with her. He would die along with her. But she was very much alive in his arms and he had to find a way to deal with it before his love for her became the end of him, and not because it was a weakness, as he had always thought. No, the love about to take over and destroy him wasn't about weakness, but about a strength he had no control over. Something that was stronger than him.

* * *

_Here is my new canon. I want to thank Elena - my new beta - for being amazing._

_Read and review, and I'll be happy ;)_

_xx_

___DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals or any of their characters._


	2. Loneliness

.

**II**

* * *

When Caroline woke up it was already morning, and she felt like a truck had hit her. Her whole body hurt, but she felt alive and just then she knew he had fed her his blood.

She couldn't recollect everything that transpired between them the previous night. She remembered tidbits of their conversation, but she didn't remember the moment he fed her. It didn't matter, at least he did, still she couldn't help but wonder what had changed his mind. She had a distant memory of him saying why he had killed Carol and destroyed Tyler's life, along with nearly killing her. But everything from that point on was blurred, except for one memory: at some point last night she realized there was still humanity in Klaus. She also remembered the word 'love', but she didn't know which context it was said, or not even by whom. But it didn't matter. She was alive and that was what she should focus on.

She was yet to open her eyes, although she could feel the always ticklish and almost imperceptible feeling of sun kissing her skin, but that wasn't the only heat she caught. She could feel _his_ presence, not far from her, but not close enough to touch her. She could even feel his eyes on her, and she wondered if she should just jump from the couch and out of the invisible barrier before he changed his mind again. But would he change his mind? He said curing her meant Tyler won – that part she remembered – but still she was alive and breathing because he went against his own word, but what did it mean? Would he change his mind again at any given time? Did he regret what he did? Would he start a vicious circle of biting and curing her until he was freed from his enchanted prison?

"Good morning, sweetheart," she heard him say. He knew she was awake, and it calmed her down a little bit. He probably knew what kind of thoughts was crossing her mind, but before either of them could say anything she heard her phone's familiar ringtone.

She tried to move fast, but she felt herself feeling dizzy and before she could hit the floor he was there, his arms holding her in place for just a couple of seconds, before her body got control of itself and she could stand without assistance. She hadn't seen him approach and she hadn't seen him walk away and lean against the couch, the opposite side of where she was standing, his back turned to her.

She blinked herself back to reality and sped away towards her purse, to retrieve her phone.

It was Elena and, unfortunately, with bad news.

Klaus listened closely and even smirked when it was clear they would need his help, even if Caroline quickly dismissed it before she left the house. But he knew she would come back and he even welcomed her temporary absence for he was tired, exhausted, completely drained from watching her almost all night while he figured out all the changes she had brought to his life. He held her against him until dawn broke in the horizon and the first rays of light invaded the Gilbert house. He knew she would wake up soon – or worse Tyler could come back – and he didn't want anyone to see him holding her as if his life depended on hers. And ironically it did.

His mind had been consumed with all kind of thoughts and possibilities as he felt the forbidden room of his soul being slowly demolished. He knew in no time all those emotions would come back to haunt him and he feared for his sanity. There was no way he would survive dealing with everything he had ignored for a thousand years.

But the worst – and most terrifying – emotion that had started creeping in was hope. The only reason why he made it so long was because he was completely and utterly hopeless. The only hope – although it was more like an obsession – he allowed himself to have through the centuries was breaking his curse and creating his kingdom. Most people thought he wanted to create an army. He was the most powerful creature in the world and except for that one stake that was currently in the wrong hands – nothing could kill him, why would he need an army? Surely someone could behead him or rip his heart off of his chest and he'd be dead, but that was where the wisdom that came from running from his father for so long entered. He learned how to be not only one, but several steps ahead of everyone else. He knew the moments when he would impose his presence – and superiority – to the supernatural world and he knew when go under the radar. All ancient creatures, walking on this earth for longer than a couple of centuries, had heard of him. Though only a few had ever seen he allowed himself to mingle among humans after he killed Katerina's family; until the end of the eighteenth century he made some subtle moves to prove he was of course still alive. But mostly nobody heard from him except Elijah – before Katerina – and Rebekah. But even as he ran from Mikael, he had been able to help to found the Vieux Carré in New Orleans, the place where he spent more time than anywhere else. His second home.

Despite running from his father, he had never wanted an army – though he would have used his hybrids as one against Mikael. He wanted comrades, creatures that were like him that he could relate to. And Caroline was once again right when she assessed his problem was his inability to connect with people. How could he connect and expose himself to people he couldn't trust? He expected his hybrids to be loyal to him, to be thankful for him for releasing them from the curse of the moon, from the painful and unpredictable transformations during full moon. The sire bond was just icing the cake – as he truly didn't expect his creations to be that faithful to him – but it soon proved to be fallible as well. He was still the bad guy in everyone's eyes and there would never be someone really loyal to him, someone he didn't have to fear being betrayed by. He was forever alone, even if he had Elijah and Rebekah.

That was why having hope was pointless and even harmful. It would only lead him to disappointment, betrayal and pain, and that was why he didn't dare feel it, but her words – Caroline's words – kept hammering in his head. Could he really be saved? Could he have the same thing she had with her friends and family? Could he ever be allowed to dream? That was why he wanted to know her hopes and dreams so much. He had never had that until she entered his life. He remembered the night of the twenty's dance. _Perhaps one day, maybe in a year or even in a century, you'll turn up at my door._He should have recognized that as the first sign that something was changing. He shouldn't hope her to ever look for him. She _wouldn't_ and time and time again she proved it. But even as he fought against it, he still _dreamed_ about it.

And as just he expected she came back – but unfortunately she brought little Brutus with her. They had found the sword, and she even amused him explaining to her uncouth boyfriend what a criptex was and how it worked, and even what Aramaic was. She was definitely more than a pretty face, and of course he couldn't resist teasing her about one of the dozens of languages he knew fluently. Maybe it would make she realize that she deserved much more than a boy who hadn't ever heard of a language such as the old Hebrew dialect.

And as he decoded the message in the tattoo and sword, he felt at least more relieved about the whole cure thing. There was only one dose of it and he knew between killing him and making Elena human again, the Salvatores – and the rest of the gang – would choose to give it to doppelganger. But he had different plans and he didn't waste his chance when Tyler and Caroline called Rebekah. If anyone should have the cure it would be his sister and he would prove her wrong about her earlier statements while Elena and Caroline were talking on the phone. If she wanted to live and die and go through all the rubbish human life granted, it was her choice and he would do his best to give it to her.

"_Hello,_" he heard his sister's voice

"Hey, it's Caroline. We have the translation of the tattoo. We're emailing pictures of the map and instructions right now," Caroline said to the female Original.

"_Got it, thanks,_" Rebekah said after she saw the new message in her inbox.

"Actually, it was me," Klaus said from the living room.

"_Like you helped?_" Rebekah frowned.

"You sound so surprised, little sister,"

"_Shouldn't I be? You don't want me to be human, you don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?_"

"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want the longer you'll continue hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness," he offered, and just like Rebekah across the world, Caroline felt surprised by the words. She didn't show her shock, but those words had been totally unexpected.

"_Fool me once, shame on you, fool me a hundred times,_"

"No more fooling, no more games," he changed his tone of voice, "I hope you get to live and die, as you wish," Caroline watched him closely, trying to decipher something that proved to be more challenged that biblical dead languages. It could all be a trick, like Rebekah implied, but there was a certain amount of sadness when he admitted he would agree let his sister to live and _die_.

"_So do I,_" Rebekah, unlike Caroline, couldn't cover her surprise.

"There's one more thing, Rebekah…" he started and Caroline and Tyler exchanged a look trying to imagine what else he could say.

"There's only one dose of the cure, you need to find it first and take it, it's the only way you…" he explained, but stopped short when Tyler quickly hang up on his sister.

Klaus raised his arms mockingly at both teenagers, while smirking victoriously.

"We should have hanged up after we sent her the e-mail," Caroline said annoyed and frustrated with her naivety.

"That you should, sweetheart. If anyone is going to be human again, I'll make sure that's my sister," he offered as he lied on the couch, his arms under his head.

"We all know it has nothing to do with finally giving your sister what she wants, but everything to do with you getting rid of the one thing that could allow us to kill you without killing all of us in the process," Tyler offered as he walked to the invisible barrier, making sure he was outside of it.

"And do you really think that with Elena there, the Salvatore brothers, the witch or little Gilbert would use the cure on anyone else but the precious doppelganger?"

"And if she was human it would make it all much easier for you to follow up on your revenge on the Gilberts for killing your brother, and I'm sure Elena will do everything in her power to protect Jeremy from you and as you just said, the Salvatores, Bonnie and Jeremy will do everything they can for Elena, killing you still looks like the better scenario," Tyler crossed his arms, smirking cockily.

"And do you really think Rebekah and Elijah would allow them to live another day after they killed not only one, but two of their brothers? There's only one cure, they can get rid of only one Original and trust me, little orphan, we may have a funny way to show it, but we won't allow anyone to touch our family. _We_ deal with our business, nobody else. So maybe you're right and if they somehow get to the cure before Rebekah, they'll decide against using it on Elena, and offer it to me as a bid for my forgiveness for what they did to Kol. But let me tell you one secret. I don't believe in forgiveness and nothing will stop me from avenging my brother, just like you'll pay for coming here gloating and planning my dismissal," Klaus offered before he closed his eyes, while Caroline looked panicked at her boyfriend, who stormed out of the house.

"Every time I think I have it, the son of a bitch gets the upper hand," Tyler offered exasperatedly.

"We won't let him hurt you. Stefan and Elena will bring back the cure,"

"If they get to it first, and if they don't, Klaus kills me. I need to get of the town and figure out how I'm going to stay alive,"

"Hang on, okay, just before you go doom state. At least let me try talking to him,"

"He's got nothing to lose, Care. His brother is dead, his hybrids are gone, and all he wants right now is blood, starting with mine,"

"I'm not going to say goodbye to you again, do you understand me?"

"Let me fix this," she asked, and he nodded. He knew his chances were slim and his best shot was her. If Klaus had kept her alive, maybe there was a chance he would let him off of the hook if Caroline asked. If it meant Caroline would forgive or at least overlook his past actions and Tyler wondered for a moment which scenario was worse.

Caroline didn't remember most of the things she had said the night before, and that had somehow saved her life, but she hoped her brain had it registered somewhere in her subconscious and would try to make the same reasoning. She would do everything in her power to make sure her boyfriend lived, as well as her best friend.

But several minutes passed no action plan actually came to her mind, while she stayed outside with her boyfriend.

"I'll do my best," she offered, knowing they couldn't waste any more time.

"I love you," he offered, and she nodded, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"I love you, too. Everything will be okay, trust me," she offered confidently before she entered the house.

"You can't kill Tyler," she offered the moment she saw him sitting in an armchair.

"Not only can I, but I have to. I have a reputation to uphold. Moreover I want to," he said without a glimpse of remorse, instead seemingly taking pleasure on that.

"I'm not asking you to forgive him. All I'm asking is to let him live, somewhere far from here,"

"So he gets to lead a happy life, after he turned all my hybrids against me? After he tried to kill me? After he made his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me?"

"We all want the cure,"

"Do we?" he challenged.

But she couldn't answer him.

"Do you?" he whispered.

"It doesn't matter, there's only one, it's not like I'm going to get it anyway,"

"But if you could?" he asked before he saw the reluctance on her face. Not reluctance about what she would do, but if she should tell him, admit it out loud.

"You wouldn't, would you?" he offered with a small smile.

"You prefer who you are now to the girl you once were. You like being strong, ageless, fearless," he stated, taking pleasure and finally see the truth behind Caroline Forbes.

He took a step forward to the limit of where the barrier allowed him to go, and standing just a few inches away from her he could read it in her eyes. "We're the same, Caroline," he offered.

"Then show me," she challenged.

"You know how much I love Tyler. You can see how scared I am to lose him. If you and I are so similar then show me compassion. Show him the mercy I would show you," her emotions and fears rising to the surface, showing how much she indeed loved the boy outside.

"Mercy… for Tyler…" he said looking deep in her eyes. "Very well. Tell him to leave town immediately," he turned away and walked away from her.

"And tell him to run and hide in a place I will never find him," the turned to look at her again, rage clear in his demeanor.

"Of course," she offered, not believing he actually agreed to let Tyler live, not believing it hadn't been that hard as she first imagined. It seemed surreal and suddenly words from the previous night flashed in her mind. _"I know that you're in love with me, and anyone capable of love is capable of being saved,"_

"Tell him this is the mercy I extend for you sake," he approached the barrier again, watching as she gathered her personal stuff. "That I will give him a head start, before I kill him," he smirked pleasingly, as the small smile on Caroline's face dropped. Yet again she allowed herself to expect the best from him and once again he proved her that she was hoping against odds, against hope.

Their eyes locked for a while, and although he could see how he was just breaking her again, he had to stay true to who he really was. He was already facing a battle with all the feelings burning his soul. Feelings prompted by loving her. He had to hold onto any resemblance of who he was; of who he had to be in order to survive. It was either killing Tyler or finding himself being vulnerable to something in 800 years. Being vulnerable to the one thing that could destroy him: himself.

For a long while Caroline simply sat on the swing. She couldn't move. Despite her best efforts, despite her best attempts, her boyfriend, the guy she was in love with had to say goodbye to her yet again. She wasn't ready when they did it the first time, or the second, and their farewell didn't make it any better than it had been in the past. It was still the same feeling. A pain was consuming her insides like a fire, destroying everything in a devastating torture. Her world was falling, and she didn't find strength to even more from where she was sitting, let alone move on with her life. She had made him promise he would live his life and forget all about herself, but what was she supposed to do? How did she continue to life her life? How was she supposed to lead a happy life? It wasn't simply because the boy she was in love with had to left.

It was the epitome of her life. Never first, never enough, never happy, never _normal._ She had no doubts most of those things were true when it come to her now estranged boyfriend. She was the first – and now the only – for him, more than enough and they were happy. But even when she had finally found herself to prove that she wasn't destined to a life that would reward her with the small, but primordial, things she wanted. She had lost her father, she had lost some of her friends, she had lost her boyfriend and she had lost herself.

She looked towards the window, but she couldn't see the man inside. His words came back to her. _We're the same. You like being strong, ageless, fearless._ She liked who she was now, but it had never been her choice. Even her own life had become a choice someone else did for her. Just like her father had decided she shouldn't be a vampire, or when Damon decided she should be his play thing, or when her friends and boyfriends decided that they could use Klaus' likeness to her in their favor. Of course she would have never agreed with being compelled by Damon or being turned by Katherine. The same way she would have chosen to help her friends, no matter what she had to do with and for Klaus. The same way she would have agreed with her father to try to destroy the beast she was and maybe keep her humanity intact. But that wasn't the point, that wasn't what hurt, that wasn't what made Caroline feel like she shouldn't have any dreams and hopes about her future. It was the way there was always someone else deciding what her life would be. Deciding she should leave city, so the council wouldn't kill her. Deciding she would never have the cure, because there were more important things than her becoming human again. Deciding if she agreed or not with trying to fool Klaus yet again and break the sire bond. Deciding if her boyfriend should stay, and die trying to survive or simply flee hoping that he would be able to put as much distance between him and his enemy.

It didn't matter if it was her father, her friends, her boyfriend, her enemies or even life itself, Caroline was just tired. What was the point of making plans about the future, of holding hope that she and Tyler would find a way, if undoubtedly something would get in the way of destroying her dreams? What was the point of living forever if she couldn't keep what really matter? If the life she lived wasn't going to be the one she dreamed of?

There was no point, but there was also no suicidal bone in her body, so she simply resigned. She simply accepted that she was one of those people that wouldn't have a saying, that wouldn't prevent things like those from happening. But at least she was comfortable in her skin. At least now she was fearless and he was right. She liked it because if she was convinced that there would be no hope and dreams in her future, she was also absolutely sure that she would make it and she would fight with her last breath if she needed, but she would live.

Taking yet another look inside the house as she stood up, she could see him lying in the couch, lost in his thoughts. And after everything he did and every pain he brought, she looked at him and all she could see was loneliness, was someone lost in the immensity of his eternal life, and the pain of having every of his plans destroyed and all of his frustrations. Someone that had long ago learned what she was now discovering. They were in the wrong side of life and for the first time since she'd met Klaus Mikaelson she didn't hate or despised him. She didn't fight with herself against the contradictory things he had done since he entered their lives. No, for the first time since she had met him Caroline _related_ to him and she could finally understand that indeed, they were the same.

* * *

_AN: Here is chapter two. Can I say I'm disappointed with the feedback I've got for this? But I'm not backing away. This is a story I want to tell so much, even if nobody reviews, I'll tell it._

_Also, Caroline saw a new light of Klaus when she realized something about her life. She related to him, but that was the only thing she acknowledged. She feels more for him and we'll see her journey figuring it out as much as we'll see his trying to repress what he already knows he feels._

_From this point on I don't plan to re-write any of the show's scenes. I'm not taking the friendship route here, but there will be some external events that might get repeated here._

_Huge thanks for the few of you who reviewed and to my new beta, **Elena**, who is a sweetheart.**  
**_

_xx_


	3. Emotions

.

**III**

* * *

Jeremy Gilbert was dead.

Caroline couldn't make up her mind around it yet, but the boy she had known her whole life was dead. Another person she cared about had his life taken prematurely because of someone else's plans. She was fed up with everything and she wanted nothing more than join Tyler – even if she never crossed paths with him – and just leave Mystic Falls behind her for good, even if it included her mother. She had tried to contact Tyler, not only because she needed her rock when things seemed to get completely out of control, but because she was also worried about him.

At some point Klaus had left the house and nobody had a clue of where he was.

He had all but made a promise to her the previous night. He would give Tyler a head start before he pursued him, found him and killed him. Was that what he was doing?

But as expected, just like when he left to break the sire bond, Tyler didn't answer her calls and didn't return them. She had left voicemails and sent uncountable texts to him, but once again there was nothing. Nothing left for her, nothing for her to hold onto, to help her keep going. She was on her own. And not only she had to go through yet another day of pain, loss and desperation, but she also had to be there for her childhood friend.

Elena had lost her brother, the only family she still had, and the things the blond had watched in the few hours she stayed at the former Gilbert house had scared her. But nothing scared her more than the moment Damon asked Elena to turn her humanity off. Could that be the answer? Could that be what would make it more bearable? Could that be what _he_ had done to survive so long hopelessly? Or maybe it could be what would destroy her. What would make her foreign to her own eyes. What would finally destroy any resemblance to the girl she used to be. It could be her end, but she was committed to not giving up, to living whatever life she was headed to, and do it to the fullest. Even if it was never enough, never what she had expected, never what she had dreamed.

_We're the same._

As she looked to Elena losing herself, lacking what had always made the brunette _herself _she wondered if she would have to lose it as well. Was it really impossible for her to hold onto the human version of herself? She had to admit that the darkness of her now true nature was becoming harder and harder to be denied. The allure was almost overwhelming, and she could feel her losing the grasps of the bubbly, cheerful, lively girl she used to be. She _wanted_ to continue to be that girl, but she was more and more convinced she wouldn't be able to do it for much longer.

And in times like this, she found herself behaving like the old, insecure, neurotic Caroline because there was nothing she wished more at the moment than seeing the future. She wished she knew for sure there would indeed have a light at the end of the tunnel. She couldn't hope, she didn't know what to expect, her only option was to wait.

And she knew _he_ could give her the answers. He had lived a thousand years, he had been through it all, he had lost it all, he had _felt_ it all and it all had hurt him. Or had he?

Was that why he decided to allow his sister to become human? Was that why he was willing to lose the one person that had been with him through everything? Caroline didn't have anyone, not anymore. Her father chose to die rather than live the life she was now living and she suspected her mother felt the same way, although she would never be selfish enough to ask her mother to become a creature from the darkness just so she wouldn't be alone. Her friends weren't in better places than her, and as she looked at Stefan's and Damon's lives she felt her throat closing.

Loss. Pain. Fear. Emptiness. Loneliness. Infinitely. Never-endingly. With no limits.

Had _he_ been through this so many times that he couldn't distinguish those things anymore? Had the pain become so natural, so present, so intrinsic that the momentary contentment of making his sister wish come true would overcome her eternal absence? His loss? And then it would be only him and Elijah. The immortals, the most powerful and feared creatures in the world, the indestructible Originals would have been reduced to only two. Until when? Mikael died, and so did Finn and Kol and still he was cosigning his sister's unavoidable death. He was cosigning his own pain, his misery because he _loved_ his sister.

Which meant he _felt._

And because he felt he could be saved. Why did that sound so familiar? Her memories about what happened the night she almost died were more blurred than ever. She remembered tidbits, but then it seemed to be erased from her mind and mingled with so many voices she couldn't understand. She was sure that night she had seen something nobody had seen before. But she couldn't remember what it was. And seeing it again wasn't an option for he left. Without a word. Without saying goodbye. Only with a silent promise.

She could have figured him out that night, but now she didn't know what to expect.

_We're the same._

She had been saved when she had been doomed; even if she didn't have anyone else, she wouldn't be completely alone. Even if her mother died in a few decades and her friends were killed or decided to live their eternal lives away from her, taking care of their business, she would still have someone. She would have herself because she had been saved.

And while she fixed Jeremy's memorial notice at the school's board messages, she knew that she would survive. But a small voice, deep in her soul dared to mutter… _he_ had no one… not even himself, not anymore. And it saddened her.

* * *

Self-preservation.

He knew the words too well. He understood them, and he nearly respected them. Actually he would have respected it, if Katerina hadn't crossed him yet again.

Hayley helped the doppelganger and he regretted not killing the werewolf when she told him about his lost hybrids. And that was why he couldn't stop being who he was, who he had become. That was why self-preservation had always been his number one priority regardless of how it presented itself. Breaking his curse, creating his hybrids, killing everyone that crossed his way, using the daggers in his siblings, showing his power and strength. It all came down to self-preservation. To the inherent and undeniable instinct of survival – much more latent and prominent in a vampire, especially one that was partially werewolf.

And now in order to get the cure in his hands he would have to kill the werewolf and maybe finally end Katerina. It'd been overdue.

And in all places to hide, the little mutt seemed to please New Orleans. _His_ city. By entitlement, after all he had founded it. But it'd been a couple of decades since he went there. And he had to admit New Orleans wasn't the same without Rebekah. Reason why he rarely visited his made home in the past ninety years.

"Marcel," he ominously announced as he entered the penthouse in one of the buildings in the French Quarters.

"Klaus?" a dark man entered the living room, surprised to find his master standing there.

The hybrid knew his former protégé would be taken aback by his presence, although he shouldn't. Marcel had been with him for most of his time in New Orleans, turned not longer after he arrived in the village by the Mississippi river early in the 1700's. No one knew Niklaus Mikaelson well, but aside from his siblings, Marcel had been the closest one. _Until her._ She read him so easily that it scared him.

It didn't make sense because they had interacted just a handful times and he always made sure to make them about her, not himself.

Self-preservation.

Having people know as little as possible from him prevented them from getting ammunition against him. But Caroline could read him like a book. The words she said while she was diseased with his bite, kept being repeating in his head. He couldn't brush them off the say way he couldn't brush _her_ off.

"I need you to find a wolf. Last time she was seen she was here," Klaus informed handing the man in front of him a manila folder, no greetings offered.

"So I've heard about Mikael, the curse. It seems like it's been a good year for you,"

"It's been productive,"

"Give me a few hours and I'll bring you the wolf," Marcel said as he checked the information Klaus had on Hayley. "Dead or alive?"

"Alive. She has been working with Katerina. They may have something I want," Klaus purposefully kept the cure to himself. Marcel was the closest he had had to a comrade, but still he didn't trust his friends of centuries.

"Consider it done," the vampire nodded his head, before walking away.

"Lunch it's also on its way," Marcel said before leaving the room and he hoped among Marcel's choice there wouldn't be any blond with curly hair. He had come here personally because he needed to get away from her.

He didn't regret his last words to her, but the way she didn't acknowledge his sacrifices because of her had hurt him more than he expected.

'_It was all for you, Caroline,' _he had admitted the truth for the first time, but she had nothing to say. It wasn't enough. He wasn't enough. He would never be enough. And once again Mikael proved he had been right. It didn't matter his father was now dead; his words would always haunt him. _Nobody cares about you anymore, boy._

* * *

There was a reason why he chose Marcel among all the vampires he turned. There was a reason he protected the dark vampire. Marcel was efficient and less than three hours later Hayley was sitting across from him.

"Now, little wolf, why did Katerina offer to you?" he asked, but Hayley was quiet.

"Did she deliver it yet? Do you even know where she is?"

Again he was met with silence and his patience started to run thin.

"What are you doing in New Orleans, in the first place? Didn't Tyler meet you in the Appalachians?" he approached her letting his finger caress her neck. There was only one thing he needed her alive for, and she wasn't going to offer him what he wanted, he would have no problem snapping her pretty neck.

But as he caressed her skin, his eyes moved to a little mark on her shoulder, exposed by the spaghetti sleeved top she was wearing.

"That mark, I've seen that before," he said seeing the new moon mark.

"Yeah, it's a birth mark, people have those," she spoke for the first time while rolling her eyes.

"In my considerable lifetime I've only seen that mark in a handful of others… all from the same bloodline, a werewolf clan," he said intrigued by it.

"What?" she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Surprised I know your roots, little wolf?"

"What do you know about my family?" she tried to cover her surprise, hoping he didn't know she was looking for her real parents.

"That they still live in Louisiana. We could make a deal, their lives for information on Katerina seems fair to me," he walked away from her, a smirk on his face, his back now turned to her.

"I will tell you everything I know if you don't kill them,"

"Matters of family are sacred," he sat again in his seat across from her, with a knowing smile.

"But I have one more condition,"

"Do you really think you're in the position of making demands?

"You kill me and your only lead on Katherine is dead, you kill my… family I'm dead too, and you will probably follow not much longer after,"

"I'm all ears,"

"I tell you everything, you don't kill any of us, and you make sure one of your minions deliver me safely back to them,"

"Why would I need to send you to Noah? Why not go by yourself?"

"That's my condition, you let us live and you have me delivered to them safe and sound,"

"First the Appalachians, then Mystic Falls, now New Orleans. In my experience I'd say you were running from someone and trying to find someone,"

She became quiet again, avoiding his gaze, while he chuckled softly.

"You didn't seem like running while staying with little orphan Lockwood, which reminds me, you were the one who broke his sire bond and who helped him to break all my hybrids' sire bond. You only have one information for me, and I have two good reasons to kill you."

"I could try to help you break Tyler and Caroline," she offered almost desperately.

"I already took care of my remaining hybrid. As for Caroline, as it did with every other woman before her, my interest is long gone,"

"For someone that had been lying for a thousand years, I expected you to be more convincing," she quipped, and he actually chuckled.

"And for someone who is looking for her real family you trusted the wrong vampire to partner with. Katerina helps no one but herself," he concluded, and seeing her shocked expression he knew he had figured out what Katherine had promised.

"So what will it be, little wolf? Your life or finding out not only you have a living father, but also two older brothers?"

"I could try to help you recover the cure from Katherine. Her lead about my family only brought me to Louisiana. I could demand more information from her as I helped her have the only thing that could buy her freedom one way or the other,"

"She will kill you before you have a chance to say hello, actually I may tell you where your family is and leave you to meet death through her hands… although I don't think she'd bother to do it herself. Katerina survived so long cutting all loose ends, and now, my dear, that's all you are for her. So what will it be?"

"You already gave me a name; I'll have my chances trying to find them. You better go back to Mystic Falls if you plan to retrieve the cure. Last time I've heard Katherine was wondering what would be better, to shove the cure down your throat or let Silas complete his ritual and release hell on earth, including all of your enemies who died by your hands, wanting your blood more than anything else. She seemed to think making your life miserable as hers was more entertaining, but who knows if she didn't change her mind already?"

"And why would I go back to Mystic Falls?" Klaus asked, relieved to have Marcel and everyone else leave the house while he talked to the werewolf. He didn't want anyone else to listen what she knew about the cure.

"Because if she decided to team up with Silas against you, that's where she'll be,"

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I trust no one, and I did a little research of my own while working with Shane. The third sacrifice has to be in the same place the first two were, forming a triangle,"

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because of this," she said as she showed him a picture she took from one of Shane's books about expression.

"You're smart, little wolf, you could be useful in the future," he touched her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"I would never agree to become your little bitch," she looked at him spitefully, "Or your whore,"

"Oh, love, don't worry about that. I prefer blondes… and I like my women classy," he smirked, walking towards the beverage cart.

"Now tell me everything you know and if what you have for me is really useful like that little picture in your phone, I may let you know which side of the Mississippi you should start your search,"

* * *

Klaus would do anything not to go back to Mystic Falls. He didn't know where he would head from New Orleans – maybe even stay in the French Quarters – but he knew he didn't want to go back to the small town in Virginia. His emotions were becoming harder to handle and being close to Caroline only made it worse. Which is why he planned to find Katherine and leave for good.

But when he arrived in his house he was surprised to find his brother drinking whiskey in the den.

"Elijah," he acknowledged the dark haired man, a smile breaking on his features. After everything he'd gone through for a thousand years, it was good to see his brother again.

"Niklaus,"

"It's good to see you brother," Klaus admitted, deciding against fighting his emotions. It had become a constant battle and he knew where it was worth to use the little energy he still had to deny his feelings. Mikael was dead and so was Esther. Their family could finally be one again. _Always and forever_, he remembered the words said over a thousand years ago.

Elijah was surprised by the admission, but he didn't show. He simply offered a small smile to his brother, watching as Klaus poured himself a tumbler of whiskey and sat on the opposite armchair.

"It came to my knowledge the last past events," and by the somber expression on his face Klaus knew he was talking about Kol.

"I've buried his body," he looked away from Elijah, emptying the glass on his hand with one gulp.

"And what do you plan to do about his death?"

"Kill them all,"

Elijah nodded, sipping more from his drink, looking away from the tears falling from his younger brother's eyes, while trying to hold back his own.

Not much later, their sister stormed into the house, fuming.

"That little bitch," she said to herself before she noticed her brothers.

"Rebekah," Elijah's voice caught her attention before she reached the staircase.

"Elijah? Nik?" she came closer, surprised to find them there.

"Little sister," Klaus offered, his tears already wiped, but his eyes still glassy.

"Why are you back?" she turned to her older brother, who looked away, dejected, the tears in his eyes finally breaking through and falling down.

Rebekah then stopped, and realized that only a few nights ago another of her brothers was killed. She had been so set on finding the cure, that she didn't have given herself the time to properly grieve Kol.

She walked towards Elijah, and not thinking about it, she threw herself on his arms, as the two of them cried for their dead brother.

Klaus simply looked down, at the glass in his hands.

His siblings had one another, but he had no one. As he should. He had betrayed not only Rebekah and Elijah, but also Kol too many times. He killed their mothers and lied to them about it. He had daggered all of them, more than once, and denied them decades.

"Nik," Rebekah said, seeing her brother inconsolable, looking at the empty glass.

He looked up to his sister, and before he could react she was also embracing him, and for the first time in a thousand years, Klaus actually cried. He wasn't just shedding some tears, like he did many times before, but he was whole heartily crying, almost sobbing, and while Kol's dismissal had been the trigger, he knew in that moment, when his sister wrapped her arms around him, the final brick in the wall surrendered. The gate to the river of emotions inside him had finally succumbed and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

_AN.: here is the new chapter. I know there's no Klaroline, but it was needed. I'm not sure they'll interact again next chapter either. And as the summary suggests they'll stay apart for a while, as he'll move to New Orleans. But even if they're apart, I'll make sure to make them very close to each other in their hearts. Maybe you won't miss it much ;)_

_Thanks for the reviews last chapter. Leave more, they really help ;)_

_Thanks to **Elena**, my beta_

_Have a nice week_

_xx_


	4. Death

.

**IV**

* * *

"Good, you're all here," Silas entered the Mikaelson mansion the following morning.

"Professor Shane? I saw you die! How can you be here?" Rebekah frowned.

"Where's the cure?" he ignored her, and waited for them to answer.

"Even if we had it, why do you think we would give it to you?" Klaus challenged.

"Because I will bring you nothing but misery if you don't," he said, disappearing in thin air in front of them, only to appear behind Klaus, staking him in the back.

"You better give me that cure, Klaus," Silas threatened, now looking like Caroline.

"Silas," the hybrid exclaimed, feeling the pain of the white oak stake ripping his flesh, getting too close to his heart.

"Nik!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"We don't know where it is. We only know who has it," Elijah tried to reason when Silas threw Klaus across the room, Rebekah running to tend her brother.

"Not my problem, bring it to me or all of you will suffer the consequences," the immortal offered still looking like Caroline, before he once again disappeared.

"He broke the stake, part of it is inside me," Klaus screamed in pain.

"But how does he have the white oak stake? I have it!" Rebekah exclaimed going upstairs to check her stuff.

"I can't see anything," Elijah offered as he checked the wound that was yet to heal.

"I still have it," Rebekah ran downstairs, the stake in hands.

"We need to keep it in a safer place. He must have created another," Elijah reasoned, but still there was something that didn't make sense.

"Help me!" Klaus yelled again.

"I can't see it either, Nik," Rebekah offered as she examined his back.

"It's not healing and there aren't any splinters. There's something wrong,"

"I feel them getting closer to my heart," he offered and Elijah and Rebekah exchanged looks.

"We must do something," Rebekah turned to the oldest brother, but Elijah was yet to figure out what was going on.

"Professor Shane had information about Silas in his office, go there, maybe there's something," Klaus gasped, the pain nearly leading him to black out.

"I'll see if Elena and the others know something about it," Elijah offered, but Rebekah looked unsure.

"We shouldn't leave him alone,"

"Go! Find out what's going on!" he ordered, and dropping a tear out of all-consuming pain. Rebekah also felt herself tearing up, but she simply nodded and sped away.

"We'll find a way, brother," Elijah reassured before he also took off.

* * *

But they didn't. No one had any information to give Elijah and Bonnie seemed to have forgotten everything since she started practicing Expression. She wasn't even aware of Jeremy's death, and the Original was on his way back to the mansion when he received an unexpected call.

He sent a text to Rebekah informing her he would try to retrieve the cure and that once she was done with her research she should go back and tend to Klaus.

She was on her way when she intercepted the Salvatores. They had a lead on Katherine, and deciding against going back to Klaus she followed them. If she found the cure, they could give it to Silas and he would heal her brother. She'd rather have Nik with her than becoming human.

Hours went by and Klaus could feel the grasps of death encircling him. He was going to die. Both Rebekah and Elijah said they had leads to find the cure, but when they found it, it could be too late. So he did the only thing he felt like he had to do before he finally faced death. He called Caroline. But she didn't answer. He didn't give up, calling her many other times, leaving a few messages for her to come to him, but there was no answer on her part. He was already losing any feeble glimpse of hope when he finally heard her voice.

"Klaus?" she called as she entered the house.

"Go away," he groaned in pain.

"Where are you?" she asked, knowing something was wrong.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?" she asked as soon as she entered the den, seeing him on the floor, sweat covering his entire body.

"Give me more time!" he yelled, thinking it was Silas again.

"But you called me! I'm responsible for three prom's committees, I have a lot to do, trust me give you time it's high on my plans," she offered annoyed, but also worried about him.

"Prove it! Prove that it's you,"

"Are you hallucinating?" she approached him, only then seeing the open wound in his back.

"Prove it!" he yelled.

"Why should I prove you anything?" she challenged back. Why not even when he was in pain he could get out of his way?

"Silas!" he exclaimed, thinking it was indeed the first immortal.

"What about him?"

"He was here earlier, looking like you, so prove me, is that really you, Caroline?"

"You called me a bajilion times, I think that would make me, me?" she answered slightly annoyed. She a lot of things to do instead of hearing his craziness.

"Not enough, maybe you have her phone,"

She gave it some thought. She would have to say something that happened before Silas had been resurrected. But what?

"I've always dreamed of becoming a journalist. I've planned my whole life around it, and while it would have been hard to achieve, it's now impossible because I have a face that will never change and at some point people will start noticing," she said a few moments later.

He looked confused, and she offered him a smile.

"I never really answered your question that night," she said coyly.

"It's really you," he whispered, and she nodded.

"Did Silas do it to you?" she asked, although she was positive it had been Jeremy's killer.

Klaus nodded, grimacing and then groaning loudly in pain, moving his fingers inside the wound, trying to remove what his siblings assured him it wasn't there.

"What did he do?"

"He attacked me with the white oak stake and left a part of it inside me, but I can't remove it,"

"Why did he do it?" she asked, and although she knew she should leave him there to hurt, a part of her was sad to see him like that. He didn't deserve her mercy or even her pity, but she was Caroline Forbes, the compassionate girl with the gold, big heart that couldn't see someone hurting like that and feel no sympathy. Even if it was Klaus. Even if he deserved the pain. But did he deserve it? The automatic answer was yes, but when she stopped to really think about why he deserved it, she realized that most of her friends would deserve the same, as they killed too many people in the past and even recently. Klaus' brother being one of them, and leading to the death of many others with him. An entire bloodline. And she didn't think Jeremy deserved to die like he did, and she definitely didn't think Elena deserved to die either. So why thinking Klaus deserved it was the first thing in my mind? She felt disgusted by herself with that thought alone.

"He wants the cure," he mumbled, breathing heavily, stopping her thoughts.

"Do you want my help?" she asked wondering why he called her.

"No, my siblings are trying to retrieve the cure from Katerina,"

"What do you want then?" she sat by his side, keeping some distance between them.

"To say goodbye,"

"What?" she asked visibly affected by his words, but trying to cover it the best she could.

"I know I don't have much time, and if Elijah and Rebekah don't come back soon with the cure, the wood will reach my heart," he said with difficulty, stopping between coughs and groans of pain.

"Why didn't they remove it first?" she asked, looking closer at the wound.

"They can't see it. I can feel it moving deeper in my body, but no one can see it,"

"But the moment you die, we all do as well," she said almost like an afterthought.

"I know, I'm sorry about that," he looked at her, and despite the pain overwhelming his features, she could see the genuine sorrow in his face.

"So this is the end?" she asked feeling surprised by the beat her heart skipped. Why did his prominent death cause her to react like that? _Because all of your friends, your ex-boyfriend and yourself will die along with him_, she tried to convince herself, but she knew that wasn't the real reason, or at least not the only one.

"I'm afraid so,"

"And you called me because you wanted to say goodbye? Even after you tried to kill me and effectively sent my boyfriend away?" she deflected from the thoughts crossing her mind. It was better to be angry at his audacity rather than the sting she felt inside.

"I thought we were becoming friends," his voice changed suddenly and despite all the physical pain he was bearing at the moment, somehow she knew that it was the emotional pain that was causing him to sound so broken.

"You thought wrong," she looked away, dismissing her own emotions and pain. He didn't deserve her affections, regardless. Although she knew she was feeling much more than that, but she would continue to pretend otherwise.

"I saved your life, twice!" he yelled, while his body started shaking uncontrollably.

"Because you put it in danger, twice!" she challenged back, but she could feel her resolve dying. It was _painful_ to watch someone hurting like that. She would feel bad for anyone in his position, but she was feeling especially bad for him. If there was anything she could do to stop his pain at that moment, she would. And that comforted her because it proved her humanity was still a big part of her.

"So are you still pretending you don't feel anything for me?" he asked, as if he could read her thoughts.

"I don't need to pretend. I do feel, though. I despise you, I feel sorry for you," she couldn't face him as she said those words.

"Really? So you've never felt the attraction that comes when someone who is capable of doing terrible things, for some reason, cares only about you?"

"I did once when I thought he was worth it," she answered honestly. She did think he was worth at some point, then he killed Carol Lockwood and it was too much for even her overlook his actions. Then he tried to kill her and he sent her boyfriend away. He shouldn't get anything from her. Then why some part of her seemed to disagree with those words?

"You can leave now," he turned away from her, walking dejectedly in pain.

Caroline didn't know what to do or to think. She should hate him. But there was something preventing her from doing so.

When she came and showed some concern about his condition he thought he was right after all and she really felt something for him. Even if the smallest of the feelings. But now seeing her denying it without flinching, with easiness, just proved him that he was indeed a fool. He didn't need her to inflict more pain on him in his last breathing minutes. He'd rather be alone, die alone, as he should. _As he deserved_, he thought.

"I said leave," he yelled, but the moment the last word left his mouth he fell on the floor, seizing violently.

"Klaus," she cried, walking to his spot, moving her hands everywhere, but not touching him because she didn't know what to do.

"Just leave," he managed to say, his voice just above a whisper, "I deserve to die alone,"

"I should have turned my back on you ages ago," she said finally touching him, feeling his skin burning because of the fever to stop the convulsions.

"No time like the present," he said, coughing hard, drops of blood staining her dress.

"No one deserves to die alone," tears filled her eyes quickly and soon after it they broke through her eyelashes.

"I don't want your pity,"

"You thanked me once for being honest with you,"

"Please, Caroline, leave," he begged, his voice vulnerable and pleading in a way she never heard before. He'd rather have her hate than her pity.

"And I'm being honest, not because you're dying, but because I don't want to lie anymore,"

Klaus wished he could say something as she reached his face, cuddling it with her hands.

"I'm sorry," she said and he seemed to frown at her words, but his body calmed completely at her actions.

"For what, sweetheart?" he asked weakly, and she actually wondered how it would be to never hear him calling her sweetheart or love again. She hated it, as she hated most things about him, but her characteristic compassion was still part of her, a significant part, and she couldn't bring herself to be cold to a man in his bed death. No matter all the bad things he did before.

"For your pain,"

"You didn't cause it. Now I can't say the same about me and your own pain," he turned away from her, coughing again, before he yelled in pain, the splinters grazing his black dead heart.

"No one should go through this," she reached for her scarf and untying it from herself she used it as a cloth to dry some of his sweat and clean some of his blood.

"You were right, Caroline," he closed his eyes, both at her touch, but also because of the all-consuming pain.

"I'm always right, you should know that, though I wonder which part you mean," she tried to joke, the tears falling freely from her face. It was so sad so see a man like that, especially a man like Klaus. She got used to see him as a strong, fierce, invincible, tough vampire. An Original. A hybrid. But now he looked like a shell of a man.

"I fell for you," he admitted, doing his best to bring the corners of his mouth up. It was a feeble attempt, but it was the best smile he could offer at the moment.

"When did I say that?" she asked confused, having no recollection of such thing, although she had her suspicions confirmed by his words.

"I guess you'll never know," he whispered, the broken smile fading as she felt his face becoming heavy on her hands.

"Klaus? Klaus? Wake up!" she asked, feeling nearly desperate. The feeling of having someone dying in your arms – whether or not by your hands – was still a terrible one.

Although she should think about Tyler at the moment, when she realized the man in her arms was dead, all she felt was pain and grief. The most powerful creature in the world had just died, confessing his love for her as his last words. The man who didn't know how to love. The man who didn't allow himself to have any weakness. The man that was ruthless and never showed mercy to anyone.

"_It was all for you," _the words burned in her mind.

He was right. She did feel the attraction of having someone like him to care about her. A man that only allowed himself to feel hate and anger. A man that showed mercy to no one. A man that didn't think twice before killing anyone if he needed. The same man who should have killed them all – and would have – ages ago. But he didn't and according to his own words it was because of her.

That was something that not even Tyler had done for her. Yes, her ex-boyfriend had broken the sire bond because of her, but it wasn't exclusively for her sake. And Tyler was a good person. He had his bad moments, but with Richard as his father, who could blame him? But then she remembered how Mikael did everything in his power to kill Klaus for ten centuries. Tyler and Klaus were different people and a sacrifice coming from her ex couldn't compare to any display of mercy coming from the emotionless Original.

He was wrong about her feelings, she felt anything but pity for him at the moment. She related to him as her father had tried to fix her as well. She felt sorry for him, not because he looked weak or pathetic. She felt sorry for him because she could feel his pain and he had died thinking nobody ever loved him. Even if he had never said the words to her, his actions spoke volumes. She knew why those hybrids were so important to him and why he had killed them all when he found out about them planning his dismissal. She knew why he had used the daggers on his siblings and she had seen firsthand how he felt about losing Kol.

"Goodbye, Klaus." she gathered the little strength she still had and moved him to the couch.

It didn't seem appropriate to leave him there, and bringing him to her arms again, she walked away from the den, towards the second floor.

She didn't have a clue of which door led to his bedroom, but she knew when she opened the right one she would have no doubts about it and after a few of them she was positive she was in Klaus Mikaelson's bedroom. It was dark, but not too much, not as much as she expected. Well decorated – although the whole house was – but there was something that screamed his name. And then there was his unique scent filling the place. It was completely neat, and she smiled slightly, maybe because she expected him to be a little bit messier.

She moved him to his bed, and lay him down carefully, taking special care with his head. She didn't know what to expect now. She knew vampires either turned into ashes, consumed by fire or became gray. He wasn't any of those things at the moment, but she was still convinced he was dead.

"I don't hate you, and maybe with time, I could even like you, love you as a friend. I was already headed there. I spent a lot of time knowing for sure you didn't deserved to be saved. Damn it, I even thought you couldn't be saved. I was wrong, and I'm sorry I let you… go thinking otherwise," she reached for his now dry forehead, stroking his cold as ice skin for a moment.

"Rest in peace… Niklaus," she offered, replacing her fingers for her lips, prolonging the contact of her skin with his forehead for a little while.

Suddenly everything was too overwhelming and she stood up quickly, turning around and running to leave the bedroom, her emotions all over the place.

"Caroline!" she heard his energized – but still alluring – voice call her name and she wondered if she was now hallucinating as well, but turning around again she saw his eyes opening.

"It's gone," he whispered, and she moved slowly back to the bed.

"What?" she asked confused by what was happening.

"The pain… the pain is gone," he offered, sitting up on the bed, reaching the wound that was starting to heal.

"It was… it was never there," he concluded, leading her to be even more confused, "He got in my head, Silas got inside my head," he desperately pointed his finger to his head.

By then Caroline was already by his side, and standing up quickly he frightened her, before he reached for her hand.

"You took my mind of it. I could hear your words, even though I felt like I was already on the other side," he looked deep in her eyes, and she actually gasped at the intensity of his eyes on hers and the impact of his words. "You brought me back, Caroline," the words leaving his lips in a tortured way. And even though she should be worried about Silas and his power at the moment, all she could think was the meaning behind his words.

* * *

_AN. I'm going crazy. I was positive I had posted this, but it's been written over a week and I haven't posted because as I already covered, I'm crazy._

_It's been a busy week because I need to finish the second part of my monograph to finally finish my major, but I haven't written much because well, I procrastinated :P I'm sorry it took a while to update and it may take a little longer than usual again, but I'll do my best to write as soon as I'm free again.  
_

_Thanks a lot for the reviews, I really appreciate them. And just to clarify a couple of things: the fact that Caroline relates to Klaus about a few things doesn't mean she's anywhere close to forgiving him or even becoming his friend. He's got under her skin (in my universe), but she still can't overlook his bad actions, especially killing Carol. It won't change fast (in the story time line, though for readers it won't take long)._

_Have a nice week and make sure to watch the backdoor pilot. I'm a huge KC fan and I really want Caroline to go to the spin off in case it's picked, but we shouldn't boycott it if she doesn't go. First because Klaus' presence in TVD doesn't mean KC, second because she could be send there for good at any given moment, third and most importantly, Joseph Morgan deserves this._

_Love you all,_

_Babi_


	5. Goodbye

.

**V**

* * *

Klaus was exhausted and after he contacted Elijah, he thanked Caroline for helping him and entered his bathroom to take a shower. She tried to clean the blood-stained floor before heading out and just when she coming from the kitchen he stepped in the living room. She informed him about using all his bleacher and an awkward silence grew between them. She excused herself, saying she was busy with prom, but right before she left he asked her if they were finally friends.

It took her a few seconds, wondering about everything he had said and done recently and even before she could say something, he added he wasn't scouring the earth for her boyfriend, leading her to smile before walking away. It never ceased to impress her how he could read her sometimes. Maybe those many times they spent together while she played games with him actually gave him a chance to see something genuine, something that was really hers. She wondered briefly if she hadn't seen the same about him, despite her efforts to never allow neither to happen.

Her blond curls disappeared behind the door and that had been the last straw. That had been more than Klaus could stand. All the feelings he had repressed for a thousand years invaded his mind and for a moment he even wondered if Silas didn't took control of his mind again. It was overwhelming and he felt like he was being tortured. And he knew he was. All the deaths, all the betrayals, all the pain and despair everything came back and he started to scream, trying to make all the voices silence, but he wasn't successful.

For a moment he couldn't even see anything around him. He heard the pleas of his victims, he saw the blood he spilled, he saw the words in the love letters he stole. Falling on his knees he held his head drawing blood from where his fingers pressed hard against his skin.

Soon he felt arms wrapping around him, but it was like a distant feeling. His mind was too busy at the moment with so many different emotions for him to be aware of whatever was going on around him.

Caroline was still sitting in her car, thinking about what had just happened when she heard the first scream. She was lost in her thoughts about the extension of Silas' power when she heard the Original's voice. She ran outside and found him in a similar position to the one she found him earlier that day. It was already dark outside and the room itself wasn't high illuminated, but she could see his features clearly. He was contorting and rocking his body back and forth, while holding his head. She called his name, but it seemed like he didn't hear her or noticed her presence.

She walked towards where he was trying to assess the situation and see whatever she could do, but he was completely unresponsive.

Not knowing what else to do and being deeply affected by the broken man in front of her, she did what she would have done to anyone in his position: she hugged him.

At first he didn't know what was happening, consumed by the many voices in his head, but then one voice stood out and he suddenly felt arms around him, _soothing_ him. It hadn't been something quick, but little by little he was taking a grip of his emotions again. They were still overwhelming, but her presence helped him to at least keep them at bay enough for him to acknowledge his surroundings completely.

He didn't know if had been minutes or even hours, but the rage rush of emotions had been calmed down enough for him to breathe again.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to cover as much as he could the shame and the vulnerability in his voice.

"Was it Silas again?" she asked concerned.

"Old demons," he simply offered, and she finally broke the contact between their body, only then realizing she was still hugging him.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, biting her bottom lip. She had never seen anything like that before. She had never seen anyone like him at that moment.

And then it was her emotions that were all over the place. She finally saw the man behind the masks, the man without the walls he placed around him. She finally saw the real Niklaus Mikaelson and it was shocking and devastating.

"I've been coexisting with them for a thousand years, sweetheart, I'm sure I can survive another thousand," he lied to her, and she could see something completely different in his tone and demeanor, she couldn't put her finger on what changed. In front of her was a broken man that looked tortured and lost, and something in his eyes showed he felt utterly alone. He was dark, but he was also afraid of something and he didn't know what to do about it. She could see he wanted to control his demons, but it was so clear in his desperate, sad eyes that it was them that had been controlling him maybe through all his existence.

She wanted to stay, she should have stayed, but she was too much of a coward to actually do it.

"So am I finally release to leave?" she asked weakly.

"Yes, once again, thank you, Caroline," he offered a broken smile, and she felt her heart pulling inside her chest.

"Good night, Klaus," she said dejectedly, before walking away, feeling like she was leaving him when he needed someone the most. And maybe that was why he was the way he was. His actions probably prevented anyone to ever stay, and feeling lonelier he acted even more recklessly, making it a vicious cycle she wished she was brave enough to break.

"Good night, sweetheart,"

* * *

Stefan, Damon and Elena finally came back and Caroline shared with her friends everything that happened with Klaus the previous day. They were shocked to find out about the extension of Silas' powers and immediately contacted Bonnie to inform her about the ancient vampire actions. The witch wasn't shocked and she promised she would help. She just needed to recover from losing Jeremy and the guilt she carried within. Caroline offered a sleepover, but the hazel eyed girl asked for some time alone.

Elijah and Rebekah had also come back from their journeys and Klaus was happy to find out that Elijah possessed the cure, although the elder Mikaelson wasn't positive if giving it to Silas would be the best alternative. Rebekah pleaded for her cause and not resisting his sister he finally agreed in giving her the cure, as long as she spent a couple of days without using any of her supernatural powers. But they didn't expect Silas to fool them once again, and taking Rebekah's place the older vampire received the cure from Elijah at the end of the following day, much to Klaus relief.

Klaus was still dealing with the river of emotions going through him during his every waking hour. He had tried to sleep, but it evaded him almost completely. And being so close, yet completely distant from Caroline only made it more difficult. There was nothing left for him in Mystic Falls and when Elijah suggested them to go back to the only place they really felt had been their home, he didn't think twice.

It was time to finally go back to New Orleans. For good.

He had promised to avenge Kol's death, but it was enough for him to know Elena had lost her brother just like he did. It was better to leave her to her devices and pain. She wouldn't be able to keep her humanity off for much longer, especially with the Salvatores doing everything in their power to help her turn it on. And once her emotions were back the pain and the guilt about Jeremy – who died trying to get the cure to his sister's vampirism – would be enough to make eternity miserable for Elena Gilbert.

He didn't want to admit that the idea of killing them all was also disconcerting somehow. The voices of his victims still haunted him and he admittedly – to himself, not anyone else – wasn't on his best frame of mind and he didn't want to add anything to his internal reverie.

Elijah was right. When they left New Orleans a century ago they didn't do it willingly. Mikael – always him – led them to leave the city they built and lived in for over two centuries. It had been the longer they were able to stay in the same place under Mikael's radar in the millennium it took him to finally kill his father. It was time to go back to the place that held more happy moments to his family – even if those moments could be counted in one hand. But leaving to New Orleans meant leaving Caroline behind and while the first time he left he didn't say anything, he knew he wouldn't come back and the idea of never seeing her again was almost morbid for him to accept.

The many emotions surrounding his heart and conscience only made his feelings for her all that much clearer. He was indeed in love with her and already fighting so many psychological battles at once, he decided against resisting this one. No matter what he did he wouldn't be able to shake her off easily. It would require time and space, but he had to say goodbye and that was why he came to her house after sending Elijah and Rebekah ahead of himself to make the final arrangements for them to come back to their city.

"Klaus?" she asked nearly surprised as she saw the man standing in her porch. As usual her mother was working and she was alone at the house, left to her thoughts that gravitated around the hybrid more often than she was willing to admit. The picture of him a few days ago was still imprinted in her mind and she couldn't get rid of them. She felt compelled to do something to help him, but she didn't know how or where to start. She was afraid.

"There are a few matters I'd like to discuss with you before I leave town, can I come in?" he asked, and only those few words had been enough for her to see the changes she saw four days ago were still there.

"I guess," she answered unsure, stepping aside so he could enter.

"Silas has the cure,"

"What?" she asked shocked.

"He fooled Elijah, who planned to give it to Rebekah. Silas posed as her and instead of giving it to my sister, Elijah gave it to Silas,"

"It can't be good,"

"I guess not,"

"I contacted your boyfriend a few minutes ago,"

"Did he answer your phone call?" she asked almost offended that Tyler would answer Klaus, but not her.

"No, but the vampire I have tracking him since he left weeks ago talked to him on my behalf,"

"Have you known where he is?"

"At this moment in Texas, with a centenary pack of wolves," he clarified while she tried to process the information.

"I released him to come back home… to come back to you,"

"What?" she asked, sitting down, only realizing then both of them were still standing.

"Consider it my graduation gift to you,"

"But why?"

"As I said earlier, my family and I are leaving. We'll go back to the city we built and from where we ran against our will when Mikael found out about our whereabouts in the 1900's"

"And just like that you will allow Tyler to come back? Out of compassion?"

"It's not compassion, Caroline. I'm leaving this city and everyone in it behind me. Mystic Falls and all its inhabitants are now a part of my life I won't remember, I won't regard," his voice was cold and distant and Caroline was surprised to find out it actually stung to know she was part of everything he was disregarding. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she knew she liked the idea of someone like him caring about her. Her of all people. Neurotic, insecure, baby vampire Caroline Forbes. But now he was putting her back in the place she would belong in his life. He was a thousand year old, he had seen it all, lived it all, of course his infatuation with her wouldn't last.

"Thank you," she uttered, trying to cover her own emotions, hoping she was more effective about it than him. His voice was cold, but she could see in his eyes he was in pain.

"Don't come after me, Caroline," he offered, and she actually frowned. That was a sudden change of subject she wasn't expecting.

"And why would I do that? Why would I even consider it?" she asked as if what he was suggesting was impossible. She wished it was, but right now, after everything they'd been through and everything she'd seen, she wasn't so sure, but she wouldn't let him know that, even suspect it.

"We both know you wish you could forget all the bad things I've done and when I'm not around to remind you, you will forget them and you will feel tempted to come after me. Don't."

"Are you hallucinating?" she laughed humorlessly.

"Actually that had been you," he confirmed his suspicions about her lack of lucidity when she concluded he loved her.

"And what does it have to do with being with you?"

"If you're willing to forget all my wrongs within just a couple of months where do you see yourself in let's say six months if I behave? If I keep my promise not to kill Tyler? If I give up on my revenge against Elena and everyone in this city that tried to kill me and succeeded in killing two of my brothers?"

"Keep dreaming," she said, although it didn't hold the confidence she planned.

"We both know I'm right, love. You feel something for me, whatever you decide to label it. It could be a simple attraction, it could be a bond created by the times I shared my blood with you, or you could be the allure of the darkness that surrounds me. Sooner or later you would have felt like you needed to get it out of your system. Sooner or later you would have wanted to label it, to know what it really is and the only way I can see is exploring whatever this thing between us is,"

"You're delusional,"

"Don't you think the least you could do now was being honest with me? With yourself?" he challenged her.

"I'm not playing games or pretending here, and we both know it. I would never give it a shot despite of whatever feelings I could ever develop," she denied it promptly and she knew at least the last part was true. He had got under her skin, she wasn't going to deny it to _herself_. But it didn't mean she would ever pursue anything with him. She couldn't forget what he did to her friends' lives, the people he killed, the emotional torture he caused them for almost an entire year.

"You won't, not because you have control over it, Caroline, but because I'm making the choice for you, because I have a thousand years on you controlling emotions and perfecting self-control," he walked closer to her, and she immediately felt threatened.

"Get over yourself and your need to be in control," she rolled her eyes, although she growing more uncomfortable with every step he took towards her.

"This is not me being in control, Caroline. If anything it's quite the opposite. If I were in control I wouldn't feel any of this. Or at the very least I would entice you to explore this connection between us, I would happily explore it and let you deal with the consequences, but I have almost no control over my actions towards you,"

"No, Klaus, you're doing it for yourself. You're afraid of feeling, afraid of hoping, afraid of believing someone could finally love you," she saw right through his words, everything becoming clear as day for her.

"I could never convince you otherwise, could I?"

"No,"

"But I have convinced myself," he said as he finally stood just in front of her, his eyes locking with hers, as he body leaned towards her on the couch.

"You'll never look for me; you'll never feel the need to explore what we have or what you feel for me. Even if you ever cross my way by chance, you'll leave before saying a word to me, and you won't look back. Unlike my previous words you'll never show up in my doorstep," he compelled her and after he was done she blinked repeatedly.

"Did you just compel me?" she asked stunned. She knew she should have expected him to do something like that, but just like that night in Elena's house, she underestimated him, and once again he proved her that she shouldn't expect something good from him. _But he just released Tyler to come back and admitted he gave up on killing Elena and Bonnie for what they did to him and Kol,_ a voice inside her head promptly reminded her. He could do good, but she could see clearly now that he felt threatened by whatever _he_ felt for her. He was running away and that nearly challenged her to stop him.

"There's only one selfish thing I have to do before I go," he ignored her question and although she was livid he had dared to compel her, she could see where this was going, but it took her longer than it should have and when realization finally came his lips were already touching hers.

Her first instinct was to push him away, but she found herself rooted in her place, all her muscles frozen – even her lips – as his soft ones covered hers. His left hand cupped her cheek, while he explored the outside of her mouth, gently, but with emotion. She could feel his feelings for her in one kiss that had shocked her to the point she couldn't kiss him back. She was overwhelmed by the many emotions going through her body. Until it exploded into life like a supernova's light and her hands moved to the back of his neck and her lips moved accordingly to his. She had barely had the chance to really kiss him back when it all stopped. She opened her eyes to ask him why he stopped just when she finally responded, but she found herself alone in the couch, the front door open again.

She walked towards it, and of course she couldn't see him in the darkness outside. He was gone, really gone, and he had compelled her to never go after him. And just then she realized something in her right hand. She was surprised she didn't let the small object fall, but as she opened it, there it was, beautiful as she remembered it - as if she could ever forget such exquisite piece of jewelry. As she looked at the bracelet and the shining diamonds he had given to her all those months ago _she_ felt content.

* * *

_AN.: I'm sorry for delay, but I had to send in my monograph last week and this week I've been sick. I'm yet to write the chapters to my other fics, but I hope to resume them next week._

_Game changer: he compelled her to never go behind him. What now?_

_Also I'm tempted to include the baby in this story and I'd like you to give me some feedback about it. I don't plan to make Hayley the mother. Maybe some other werewolf or even Camille. This story is about Klaus' hopes and dreams (not Caroline's) and maybe a baby could give him more hope. I hate the arc for the show, but I think it's suitable for fanfiction (Julie Plec should know that before including such a terrible plot in a perfect pilot)._

_Let me know what you thought about this chapter and if I should include Daddy Klaus or not._

_Have a nice week. And please read and review, last chapter I've got only one :(_

_Bárbara_


	6. Sacrifices

.

**VI**

* * *

Klaus tried everything, but nothing could take his mind away from Caroline. It had been two months since he left Mystic Falls but it felt like only two seconds. He tried everything he could to shake his feelings off, but nothing worked. Not killing on a rampage, nor isolating himself, nor having countless one night stands that didn't survive to tell the tale. But nothing erased her image from his mind. He tried avoiding blondes, but it didn't work. Then he did the opposite and aimed for blondes, but it was only worse. Caroline was imprinted in his mind and heart. And then he simply accepted the fact that nothing or no one would be able to make him forget about her, so he gave up. It'd been weeks since he slept with any woman or since he killed innocent people for the sake of it because if anything both things only caused him more pain. He knew she wouldn't approve of him killing and he felt like cheating on her when he was with someone else. Both ideas were bizarre to him because he wasn't with her, so there was no cheating involved. Also he had always seen himself as a monster that no problem killing and he wasn't going to let anyone change him. But he knew deep down it wasn't Caroline that was changing him. It was the emotions taking over. Guilt and regret making it hard for him to be who he had always been.

Trying to be productive at least, Klaus focused his attention on trying to find a way to defeat Silas as his informants told him the ancient vampire hadn't been completely truthful to them about his plans. While he couldn't care less about people in Mystic Falls and the undead coming back the other side – he was positive he would be able to kill them again, just like he did the first time – his main concern was Caroline.

There was no convincing her about leaving the wicked town, especially while Elena continued to be such a nuisance. He urged to just kill the doppelganger and end Caroline's slavery to a girl that wasn't worth the time of anyone's day, but he had hurt Caroline enough.

When he decided he wouldn't compel her to forget his compulsion – and therefore his betrayal – he did it knowing it would only make things easier for him – and for her. She would never come to look for him not only because he compelled her not to, but also because he knew she wouldn't forgive him. He found himself being hurt by that realization, but he was convinced he had done what was best for her. And although he had never understood why people sacrificed themselves for others, he didn't regret his actions. He didn't mind the pain that came from making Caroline hate him and destroy the frail and rocky friendship they had reached. He would be her perdition and he couldn't allow that. He couldn't risk her coming to him because he knew he wouldn't have self-control to reject her if she did. She deserved much better than him and because he loved her, he would sacrifice any remote chance he could ever have with her as long as she was happy. But just because a part of him felt that way, it didn't mean he was at ease with his choice. A part of him hated himself for being so vulnerable and soft, but he was still picking which battles to fight and that one wasn't worth it.

But just because he didn't think he was the right man for Caroline it didn't mean he thought Tyler Lockwood was. The mutt was just a jock that as expected was far from brilliant or even clever. He was just a small town boy that didn't have anything to offer to Caroline, someone that would never understand the potential she had and who she could be. But still Caroline loved him and he seemed to love her back and maybe that was enough. Maybe love would be enough to make her happy even if loving such a boy she would never allow her to reach the greatness he knew for sure she was destined to.

She would make a glorious queen to his kingdom in New Orleans. She would help him rule the city and make vampires not only be on top of the food chain, but also control the city, take their rightful place in the highest positions.

The witches, of course, offered resistance to his plans, but he didn't expect them to put such a damper on his plans. New Orleans had always been a place where they had practiced their magic and voodoo nearly freely and the city seemed to even embrace that side of the supernatural world although to most witchcraft wasn't exactly real, and overall just some superstition and something that brought good luck and helped karma.

If Caroline was with him he wouldn't have gone rogue and killed so many people, leading the witches to be even angrier and more resistant. The situation almost spun out of control, but Elijah had helped him to hold back and be smart about it. It was difficult to be cold and calculating as he had always been when he felt everything. When every single emotion was torturing him and consuming him. He had been blind by rage and anger in a way to feel like himself again in his own skin, but it didn't help. Actually it only made it worse as he felt guilt, disappointment and even regret for the newest additions to his black list.

A part of him accepted he was a vampire – a hybrid for that matter – and that killing was in both his dominant natures. The problem was the human part of him. It had been as dormant as his werewolf side had been for a thousand years, but now it was not only awake, but roaring its disapproval towards his actions. And in the middle of the turmoil of emotions one thing kept him sane: his love for Caroline.

It felt good to know he had been able to make a sacrifice for her, it eased him to know he was taking care of her by having a few of his compelled minions to keep a closer look at her in Mystic Falls. Despite the discontentment that came from knowing Tyler was with her. Releasing his only hybrid to come back to her arms comforted him for he knew that was what _she_ wanted and what would make her happy.

If only he knew how wrong he was in that assessment.

* * *

She wanted to hate him. There was nothing more she wanted than to hate the vile Original Hybrid, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it. Especially because she had seen right through all of his actions.

_It was all for you._

His words still haunted her. She knew he had released Tyler to come back because of her. She knew he had compelled her to keep away from him for her own good. Damn it, she even knew that he didn't make her forget the compulsion so she would have one more reason to hate him, but it actually had quite the opposite effect.

She _missed him._

She had come to terms to that. For more than one year everything she and her friends wanted was to get rid of Klaus, and although they had never been successful in the many attempts to get rid of him they were now living in a Klaus-free world.

He didn't come back, he didn't look for revenge, he didn't hurt or even threaten any of her friends. He simply left, trying to put Mystic Falls behind him. And she knew the only reason why he went away so peacefully was because of her. He had said so.

But she had spent enough time to him to know how he operated. Actually she hadn't spent enough time at all, but the brief friendship they had and the many times she approached him as a distraction had been enough for her to learn how to read some of his actions. She wasn't going to fool herself. She still had no idea of who Niklaus Mikaelson really was and what made him behave like a perfect psycho for no apparent reason. He didn't spare anything or anyone. Violence was second nature to him and she even suspected he used to take pleasure into killing, torturing and hurting people and that wasn't something she could understand.

She knew it must have been hard for him to have his own parents planning his death for a thousand years. She knew it must have been hard to receive the hate from his father when it wasn't his fault his mother had an affair. She knew his own siblings betrayed him. She understood why he was so damaged and lost, but she couldn't understand why he thought crude violence was the key to overcoming it all. In fact, she thought the way he handled things only made it worse as it created a vicious cycle in the Mikaelson's family dynamics. They didn't trust each other, and they plotted against one another as a way not to be the next victim.

She really felt _sorry_ for him. How could she not? But that didn't mean she was willing to agree with his methods of dealing with everything.

And then there was the kiss. And that brought two more problems to her.

First she couldn't forget it. She couldn't shake the feeling of his soft lips against hers. She couldn't forget how her body reacted, physically and emotionally to that kiss. And every time she looked at the bracelet lying on her dresser the memories became even more vivid. She had _liked_ kissing him. She had liked it much more than she should. And that led to her second problem with that kiss.

She hadn't told Tyler about it. They have been together again for two months and still she hadn't found the courage to tell him that not only Klaus had kissed her, but she had kissed him back, even if briefly. And she was positive that was the reason why things with her boyfriend were so different since he came back. They spent a couple of months apart since Klaus had led Tyler to run, and it seemed like they couldn't reconnect even two months later.

She felt like she was holding back because she knew she was lying to him. Technically it was only omitting, but she couldn't help but feel guilty and even undeserving. Sometimes she even thought he suspected something had happened – although he never asked – because he also seemed to have put some distance between them.

They hadn't decided yet where they were going for college. They had applied for a few universities and although they knew it was wrong, they would compel their way into the same as soon as they decided which one they would go. The only place they were both accepted was the Richmond University, but neither seemed excited about the prospect of going there. She was accepted in a few other places, including Columbia, but it seemed like her heart was somewhere else. A little more to the south. She knew exactly where she was tempted to go, but she hadn't applied to any universities in Louisiana. _Stop it, Caroline. There's no way you're going there. There's nothing there for you_, she reprimanded herself, but she would be lying if the possibility wasn't becoming more and more appealing to her. She was even trying to reason with herself it was a good choice because of the university and because of the nearby beach and other things, but she knew deep inside her reasons weren't actually more than one. It was just one reason. A reason that had compelled her not to look for him. Although he never compelled her not to move to the same city as him.

Reminding of what he did before leaving made her blood boil, but she was slowly admitting not for the reasons she initially thought. Not completely anyway. Yes, she hated him for taking away her free will, but she hated him even more for proving to her he could be saved. And now she didn't need conjectures that felt like memories she didn't recollect. She didn't need any conclusion she might have come to while she was hallucinating. She simply knew it. She knew he could be saved and that only drew her even more to him, but not because she couldn't resist a project. But because saving Niklaus Mikaelson would have anyone's biggest accomplishment in life. Not only for all the evil and bad it could prevent, but especially because of the great good it could cause. She had seen firsthand that when his heart was in the right place, Klaus could be amazing. She could try and pretend she would be doing it for a greater good, for the human race, but she knew she would be doing that for two people mainly: the two of them.

And that kind of thought scared her. As each day passed she felt like she took a step towards the edge and she wasn't sure if she wouldn't simply jump. Her guilt was still too much and she was still very much true to her words to him. She couldn't, she _wouldn't_ act on whatever it was she felt for him – and she used all her self-control to refrain herself from finding out what_ whatever_ was. She couldn't do that to her friends and especially not to her boyfriend. Klaus had killed Jenna, Elena and Carol. Those murders shouldn't be taken lightly especially when she knew he would kill anyone that crossed his way or that was needed for him to reach his goals. _But he spared you and your friends,_ a voice told her, but she brushed it off quickly.

She decided to focus on another thing she hated about him: that he seemed to be right about her growing need to label what she felt for him, to explore it, to get it out of her system. She hated it when he was right about things she didn't even know herself. She hated whenever he was right, period. He was Klaus, he was evil, he was a monster. He should never be right.

But he was, more often than not. And she hated it.

But before she could indulge in the one emotion she was comfortable indulging about Klaus, her phone interrupted her thoughts.

She felt really stupid for feeling her heart racing in her chest every time her phone buzzed. There was a small hope in her heart that it would be _him_, that he would contradict himself and not be able to keep away from her, but she was wrong. As she normally was about him. And it only made her even angrier. How come he was always right about her and she was normally wrong about him? infuriating, but her insistent ringtone brought her back to the present reality.

"Hey," she greeted answering her phone, Stefan's name stamped on the screen.

"_We've got a problem,_" Stefan said quickly.

"What happened?" she asked feeling the anxiety growing. She felt so shallow for spending so much time thinking about her pathetic personal life when there was an ancient vampire running around, making people see whatever he wanted, manipulating and threatening them constantly.

"_I figured out why Silas haven't made any move yet,_"

"And what is that?"

"_He needs three sacrifices to be completed. The council and the hybrids massacres were the first two, but he needs a third one. I've made some research and I found out exactly what he needs and where needs to do it,_"

"And?" she asked, panicking a little inside.

"_He needs to complete a triangle, and he needs to sacrifice twelve witches,_"

"And where would that take place?"

"_There are two spots in the woods that it could happen. Damon is with Elena and he can't go with me, Tyler made it clear he doesn't want any part in any of it anymore and Bonnie had disappeared. Her father called us asking if we had seen her. she had left earlier in the morning and she doesn't answer her phone,_"

"Oh my God, do you think he'll kill her along with eleven other witches?"

"_No, I think he needs her to do the spell that will drop the veil, but I think he used her to attract the witches to Mystic Falls,_"

"We should go to the sites where this sacrifice could be happening and hope we're not late,"

"_Which is why I need your help, I just sent you a map of one of the locations. I'm going to location A and you could go to location B. Do whatever you have to stop the sacrifice,_"

"I'm on my way," Caroline said as she stood up, leaving her bedroom.

"_We should wait in the neighborhood in case they are yet to go there, but if you find someone there, you text me,_" Stefan instructed and she agreed, before they disconnected the call.

* * *

"_What?_" Klaus yelled on his phone.

"The Salvatore brother called her and they have a plan to stop Silas," the vampire explained again, as he followed Caroline from a safe distance.

"_And you should stop her. I don't want her anywhere near Silas,_" Klaus kept his voice loud, enraged by the stupidity of his minions.

"We're still following her. Should we kidnap her? Snap her neck?" the vampire asked, not sure if Klaus would agree with hurting Caroline somehow.

"_You do everything you have, but you won't let her anywhere near Silas! Stop short of killing her, but everything else is allowed otherwise you're dead,_" Klaus ordered, and the vampire gulped.

"They're here," Klaus heard Mark saying, as Jim was basically paying attention to Klaus and following the older vampire.

"_Who?_" Klaus asked, feeling his stomach clench. He hated to feel powerless, but that was how he felt knowing Caroline was in danger and he was hundreds of miles away.

"I guess they're the twelve witches the Salvatore brother mentioned, and her friend, the dark skinned one, there are thirteen people in a sort of a circle"

"_What is Caroline doing?_" Klaus asked relieved. If there were only thirteen of them and Bonnie was there, it meant Silas probably wasn't. Unless he was taking Bonnie's form, and just like that he was nervous again.

"She's using her phone,"

"_She's informing Stefan. Wait and see what happens, but closely. If any harm is to happen to her you do what you're compelled to do!_"

"Die for her," the vampire answered mechanically. As he watched as Caroline hung up and watched the witches, making no move to approach them or make her presence known. Then Bonnie started changing, and Caroline took a step towards them.

"_Keep telling me what's happening,_" Klaus demanded, feeling tense and angry, as the vampire stayed silent for way too long, while he could hear some buzz in the background

"She's talking to one of the witches, explaining that they were there to be killed and Silas complete the sacrifice,"

"_Did the witch believe her?_"

"Not yet, she's giving Caroline a migraine,"

"_Stop her!_" Klaus yelled. Mark was about to make his move, but Stefan was faster.

"Stefan Salvatore arrived, he's talking to the witch. She stopped attacking Caroline,"

"_Go there and take Caroline away, I don't care what she says, what Stefan says, just take her away,_" Klaus ordered, as he winced, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"We're on it, boss," Jim said, as he looked to Mark and they walked towards the circle, while Klaus used his heightened senses to try to hear what was happening, but he could only make Caroline's voice in the distance.

And that was when hell broke loose. Jim and Mark tried to capture Caroline, but Stefan saw them approaching and attacked them. The witch that talked to them, started to attack Bonnie, finally believing what Stefan showed her in the book he stole from Shane's office.

"_Tell Stefan you're working for me to protect her!_" Klaus yelled on the phone, and as Stefan was attacking Jim at that exact moment, he heard the Original's voice, stopping the punch midair.

"Klaus?" he asked, as Mark attacked Caroline, who was ready for the attack the moment she saw Stefan fighting. Improvising a stake, she attacked the vampire quickly, hurting him, but not killing him, while she saw Stefan talking on the phone with someone, as the other vampire made his way towards her.

Caroline didn't know why Stefan was talking on the phone instead of helping her, but when she heard Bonnie's scream, she ran from the approaching vampire, towards her best friend, and without giving it a second thought, she snapped the witch's neck in a millisecond.

"No!" Stefan yelled, as Jim reached Caroline and took her away.

"_What happened?_" Klaus yelled on the phone that Stefan still held on his hand, as he watched the witches dropping dead one by one.

"_Stefan, what happened? Where is Caroline?_" the hybrid yelled, desperately.

"It's done," Stefan whispered as he answered, still shocked by the events.

"_Where is Caroline?_" Klaus feared the worse, the tears already dropping from his eyes.

"Your vampire took her away. She killed them, Klaus. She killed the twelve witches, she completed the triangle," making Klaus' brief relief for knowing Caroline was alive be swept away.

* * *

_AN.: I know I should be updating my other story, but I can't complete that chapter, and I'm having so many ideas to this one - I even have a sort of outline now, and I need to tell you I'm completely changing where I was initially taking this story to. I hope you'll still like it._

_I read your reviews, and I'll try to please everyone, but I have a plan and I'll stick to it._

_And to answer the anonymous of you:_

_Guest 1: If I do the baby story line it won't be in the way you described it. First, even in the show, I don't think Hayley or the baby would be a priority for Klaus. I'm not even sure if he puts Rebekah and Elijah ahead of Caroline to be honest. But I can assure you in this story there's no one more important for Klaus than Caroline. She is his priority, so rest assured. Also if I do the baby story line, I won't make Hayley pregnant. We've seen the last of Hayley in this story. She's off somewhere looking for her biological family. Also my point when I mentioned Tyler in one of the previous chapters wasn't to make it look like he didn't put Caroline first, I know he did. I just wanted to show that Caroline values what Klaus did for her in a different way she values what Tyler did because Tyler is her boyfriend, he's a good person, and it's sort of his obligation as both looking out for her. Klaus on the other hand is really evil, violent, and selfish, when he does something because of her it has a different meaning because she knows he's getting out of his way. It's really meaningful not only because he doesn't have any obligations towards her, but mainly because that's not what he normally does._

_Guest 2: I wouldn't say I made it impossible for KC to happen in the fic. Just because Klaus compelled her it doesn't mean they will never meet again. He could uncompel her, he could change his mind, she could break compulsion because of him, she could have been on vervain, she could get someone to contact him about what he did. There are many possibilities to get over that bumper in the road. I guess I explained more about his reasons in this chapter, but if you still have doubts about why he did that, let me know._

_Aujla: I don't like the idea of Klaus being a father, but I have to confess I'm tempted and because this is fanfiction and not the show, I'm considering it. But if I take that road, you might be surprised about how it will develop.  
_

_Thanks for reviewing, guys! And sorry if there are any mistakes, still no beta. The truth is I didn't send Elena the chapters because I've been so terrible to update and to make you guys to wait more because of beta editing doesn't seem fair. You let me know if you rather wait more and have it edited. Oh and please, take the time to review. It makes my day and I really hear to what my reviewers say._

_Have a nice week_

_Babi_


	7. Safety

.

**VII**

* * *

Caroline didn't have time to register what was happening. Someone captured her, but she didn't have strength to retaliate or try to escape. She had just killed someone and before she was swept away by the vampire, she saw one by one as the other bodies fell in the circle where they stood. She had killed all the witches by killing one.

_I have just killed twelve people._

She didn't even mind that the vampire carrying her would probably kill her as well. Maybe it was the ending she deserved.

_I have just killed twelve people._

Then the movement around her stopped and she found herself in front of her house, the vampire, already gone. What was going on? She couldn't understand. But those thoughts were soon replaced by the ones of her actions just a few minutes ago. She would never allow anyone to kill any of her best friends under her watch and Caroline knew she could never convince the witches to simply let Bonnie go. She had to do something and she knew she had done the right thing. Bonnie was still alive and she only hoped Stefan was taking care of her best friend at that moment. But despite knowing she did what she had to do, it still ate her from the insides.

_I have just killed twelve people._

"Caroline," the familiar voice invaded her thoughts, while she stood in the porch, still unable to enter the house.

"Stefan called me and told me what happened, how are you?" Tyler wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. Then he took her in his arms and brought her to her bedroom, but she didn't react. She couldn't react. She felt paralyzed. Numb and completely unresponsive. She was drowning in her own emotions and not even Tyler could reach her.

He tried for over thirty minutes, before he called Stefan and informed him of her catatonic state.

Stefan was still comforting Bonnie – as her two best friends were in no condition to do it – but he assured Tyler that he would go to Caroline as soon as Bonnie fell asleep. The witch was sobbing copiously at the news of her ex-boyfriend's death and it didn't look like she would stop any time soon.

Tyler continued to hold Caroline, but she did nothing. She simply stayed quiet. She wasn't tense or relaxed, she was simply sitting on her bedroom with him trying to reach out for her.

"I want to be alone," she uttered almost an hour later.

"I'm not going to leave you like that," he assured her, but she ignored his comment, and standing up she reached for her pajamas, that she had discarded earlier that day and leaving Tyler behind her she walked until the bathroom across the hallway.

"Care," her boyfriend called behind her, but the only answer he got was the bathroom door closing behind her.

She decided to take another shower. At first she just stood under her hot spray of water for long minutes. The water was already starting to feel colder and eyeing the soap and loofah she felt a sudden and overwhelming need to clean the death out of her hands and for a long time all she did was scrub her hands with all her strength. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her hands to start to bleed, but Caroline was in a trance. She couldn't feel the pain from the self-inflicted flagellation. All she could feel was guilt consuming her and a voice yelling the truth at her. Repeating over and over again she was a murdered.

_You have killed twelve people._

* * *

His legs couldn't move fast enough even if he was the faster creature in the world. Faster than any human creation and there was no way to arrive faster in Mystic Falls other than running and that was what he did. His jet would have been effective to make the one and a half hour trip, but it would take almost double that time to get it ready and something in his guts told him he should try to gain as much time as possible. Taking his car would make him arrive there at most in eight hours – and that was breaking all possible speed limits. He was better off on his feet especially in his wolf form, and that was just what he did.

Before leaving he called Stefan and asked him to wait for him at Caroline's house with a change of clothes that he was going to be on his way to Mystic Falls. Stefan didn't understand at first why Klaus needed clothes, and as he still had Mark's phone, he simply agreed with Klaus.

The younger Salvatore arrived at her house forty minutes after Tyler called him and the hybrid said Caroline was taking a shower for the past twenty minutes.

He assured Tyler he would handle it, and insisted on him going home. It took some convincing and some time, as Tyler tried to communicate with Caroline through the locked door, but his efforts were fruitless. Stefan breathed relieved when Tyler finally left, as he knew Caroline didn't need the added stress that would come from Tyler meeting Klaus in her house.

It took Klaus a little bit over than a couple of hours, but he finally stepped feet – or paws – in Mystic Falls and he went straight to Caroline's house.

In his wolf form he couldn't take his phone with him, so he simply called Stefan from the kitchen's door when he arrived at her place.

The vampire was there in a second, and seeing Klaus naked and dirty, he had his confirmation that Klaus had turned to make it faster to Mystic Falls.

"She's on the shower. She won't answer, she's been there for an hour now, the water is probably cold as ice, but she won't answer," he handed the clothes to Klaus who only took the pants and putting them own quickly he moved to where he knew was the bathroom in the Forbes household.

"Caroline," he called after knocking on the door. "It's me, sweetheart," he added softly, but there was no sort of answer.

Stefan was behind him when suddenly Klaus tensed, the hair on his arms and exposed chest raising as he snuffed the air around them.

"She's hurting herself," he simply said before bringing the door down, and only then Stefan could feel the overwhelming scent of blood, his sense much less heightened than Klaus, not only because of his current vegetarian diet, but because Klaus also had werewolf flair.

The vampire didn't even try to stop the Original from breaking in the bathroom or worried about Klaus seeing Caroline in the most exposed position. He knew Klaus would barely notice her body and he was right.

Klaus turned off the shower, and took the bloody destroyed loofah from Caroline's hands, and wrapping a towel around her naked body he took her in his arms and walked to her bedroom.

"Find an old t-shirt or something," he ordered Stefan, as if he was one of his compelled vampires. His only focus was fixing Caroline and etiquette had never been his forte.

Stefan went through Caroline's drawers and soon found out one of them filled with old shirts. Choosing the bigger one, he handed it to Klaus and watched the hybrid put the shirt over Caroline's head and cover her body and the wet towel. Only when her chest was covered, he pulled the towel and the rest of the shirt to cover the bottom of her body, without exposing her intimate parts to him.

He didn't think of any underwear or pants, and when the shirt reached her thighs he pulled the blanket over her body and used the towel to clean her healing hands.

Stefan felt like he wasn't necessary around. Caroline was still as catatonic as Tyler had described earlier, but he decided Klaus would have a better chance of breaking her out of the trance she was in than he had. Also he wanted to keep an eye on Bonnie, and while the witch was sleeping when he left, who was to say nightmares wouldn't soon wake her up from the rest her body needed so much? And he still had to fill Damon and Elena in about the night developments, although he didn't expect either to have any remarkable reaction about Caroline's actions.

Klaus didn't even realize when Stefan left the room, as he carefully cleaned the blood on Caroline's hands and arms.

"Why are you here?" she asked after a while.

"Stefan told me what happened,"

"The vampire that brought me here?"

"Compelled by me,"

"He and I have a lot in common it seems," a bitter laugh escaped her lips.

"Caroline…"

"How convenient that I'm compelled to avoid you at all costs, to never go after you, but you can come to me as you see fit and that's okay,"

"You needed to be comforted and only someone like me could do that,"

"Enlighten me how the most sadistic and cruelest creature in the world could comfort someone that killed twelve people and feels disgusted about her own actions?" she challenged his logic, finally turning to look at his eyes.

"Killing as much as I killed makes me understand better than few how it feels. I may embrace all feelings that come along," he explained, even if the last part was now a lie, "and knowing you, I knew you wouldn't react the same way I do, but that doesn't mean I don't what goes inside your head right now,"

"I had a ripper here with me who is also my best friend, I'm sure he knows pretty well about killing and dealing with guilt, something you'd never understand," she answered, and just then he looked around and realized Stefan had left.

"Do you want me to go get Stefan?" he asked quietly. If she needed Stefan instead of him, he wouldn't mind, he would give whatever she needed, as long as he could see the light in her eyes again. They were dull and lifeless at the moment and he had seen few things that felt more tragic than Caroline Forbes without her natural light.

Her lack of answer though had been enough for him. She wanted _him_ there, not anyone else, because deep down she knew she needed someone like him to make it feel better. Any of her friends or even Tyler would only make her feel guiltier and she was grasping at the last resemblance of humanity she had at the moment. She needed to hold onto it before it escaped from through her fingers. She needed to be rescued, not inflicted with even more guilt and despite knowing her friends would have her best interest in mind, they wouldn't say what she needed to hear. Klaus would.

"I killed twelve people," she confessed and for the first time since she arrived in her house, she finally allowed the tears to fall.

"I know,"

"And although I did it to save my best friend, it still took twelve lives away,"

"I know,"

"And I completed the triangle,"

"That doesn't matter now, you shouldn't think about that now,"

"Why not? In addition to killing twelve people I just helped the evilest being to ever walk on earth to release hell on it,"

"Should I feel happy or offended that I lost the title?" he asked, offering one of his small smirks, and even through her tears, she couldn't help but feel her lips turning up slightly.

"You left… you compelled me to never go after you," her voice was somehow smaller than it had been since she started talking and it made him feel a pang in his chest.

"It was necessary,"

"You kissed me and you didn't make me forget about it,"

"I could fix that if you wanted me to,"

"No! How could you compel me? How could you do that to me?" she asked, breaking down even more.

"It's for your own good, sweetheart. I'm not what you deserve and I would bring you nothing but pain and misery,"

"Well, it seems the lack of you brings me the same," she blurted, surprising the two of them.

"I don't regret my actions, Caroline. I have people watching over you, Stefan is watching over you, you have _your boyfriend_ watching over you,"

"And why is that you're here now and none of them are?"

"They were here, Caroline, you were too shocked to…" he tried to explain, but she interrupted him.

"I know they were here, Klaus. I'm not crazy yet. They tried to talk to me and I tried to hear to what they were saying, but all I heard were words lost in the wind," she confessed.

He didn't know how to answer to that. What were his words then? Although he used few of them until she started talking, deciding to taking actions in his hands instead of simply trying to talk to her.

They were silent for some minutes, until she finally spoke again, a new batch of fresh tears following.

"I killed them, and there's a part of me that is screaming that I'm a monster, that I'm a murderer, that I have blood in my hands… and then I think the fact that I saved Bonnie comforts me somehow and while it does, it's not the only thing going against that voice,"

"That voice is your humanity that while accuses you of murder, also reminds you that you saved your friend as you should. The other thing is your nature, your true nature now Caroline, and as a predator, killing is what you do, even if you didn't feed on them. You've been put in a defensive position and any predator attacks when they feel threatened,"

"But it only makes me feel even worse, it's almost like a part of me enjoyed what I've done,"

"A part of you _enjoyed_ what you have done, Caroline,"

"I don't want that part. I don't want to feel anything good about doing something terrible,"

"I know, but there's so much you can fight against your nature, sweetheart,"

"So what? Do I just embrace my inner ripper?"

"I don't think so…"

"Or maybe I'll become Damon Salvatore? I'll kill out of a whim?"

"It's actually in your hands, Caroline, do you want to indulge into the darkest parts of who you are as a vampire?"

"No," she answered with a small voice.

"Then you won't,"

"Are you going to help me?"

"I'm sure you won't need anyone's help. You're strong, Caroline and even if you're now a vampire and your nature is dark, there's an inherent light about you that will never extinguish completely unless you want it to go," he explained, daring to reach her damp her and move some strands behind her ear.

"How can you be so sure of it? I feel like I'm being engulfed by darkness,"

"Because even if your nature is dark, even if the light in your eyes is gone, your heart can't be dark, and you make a great job letting it guide you," he offered, and she didn't even realize until then more and more these days her heart wanted to guide her to where he was. She was aware she didn't have any romantic feelings for him, but there was a draw and while it was mainly physical most of the time, right now it was different. She _needed_ him and he knew that because just a few hours after she nearly lost herself he was there for her.

"How did you get here so fast?"

"I turned and ran," he looked down at his dirty and exposed chest and just then she realized how close they were, and the fact that he was half naked, the same way as she.

By instinct she pulled the blanked closer to her body feeling exposed.

"I didn't let my eyes wander, I would never, if I saw any glimpse of your body, I can't even remember it, all I could focus was the blood in your hands and arms and you being hurt," he reassured her, and his words made her stomach flutter. Who was this man in front of her? How could he explain and embrace his dark nature so easily, but still care for her so deeply? How could he turn into a wolf and cross too many states just to be there in case she needed and still take pleasure on killing someone? Did he know she needed him? Because she wasn't sure he was what she needed until she found herself in his arms despite the fact that his name had been in the back of her mind all the time. And that was when she finally understood one of the many emotions she couldn't label before. Even having trying to kill her twice, she felt _safe_ when he was by her side because although he inflicted her pain, he never intended for her to die.

She still had a hard time even thinking about forgiving him for the pain he inflicted on her when he asked Tyler to bite her and when he did it himself. If Damon Salvatore had ever taught her something or ever brought something good to her life it was her self-respect. She would never allow someone to abuse her again, she would never allow someone to deliberately hurt her like the oldest Salvatore brother did. And that was why she didn't understand why she didn't hate Klaus. She had all reasons to hate him, not only for the harm he caused to her, but also to her friends, not to mention Jenna's and Carol's deaths. But looking at him now she could feel the affection, the love and even the guilt that exhaled from him. And she hated herself for believing he could still be saved, but he kept proving her he could. He didn't kill any of her friends for killing Kol, he didn't kill Tyler – quite the opposite – he had allowed her boyfriend to come harmless to her arms. Apparently he had vampires compelled to protect her and he crossed half country on foot just to comfort her.

"Can I ask you a favor?" she looked at him with pleading eyes, showing her pain, her vulnerability, her brokenness.

"Of course you can, I hope I can help you with it," he whispered, barely holding back his own emotions at seeing her like that.

"Stay the night?"

"Here?"

"Maybe not here, but knowing you're close could help," she looked around the bed, showing that although she wanted him close, she didn't want him _too close_.

"What about Tyler?"

"He won't come back," she said sadly, and he wondered why she was so positive her boyfriend wouldn't come to check on her again.

"Tomorrow my vampires will come to fix your bathroom's door," he informed, changing the subject.

"Thank you, Klaus," and the way she held his eyes saying those words, he knew she didn't mean the bathroom door at all.

* * *

Caroline wasn't surprised to find the window seat empty when she woke up the following morning. Although they didn't talk about it, she knew he was running away from his emotions. She would never have labeled him as someone who would run away from something… except when he felt he couldn't win, and he felt he was in real danger and there was nothing he could do about it. It had been like that with Mikael, when he didn't have a weapon to kill his father. But what was so intimidating about whatever he felt for her? What was so threatening?

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother's arrival. Caroline checked the clock by her bed and saw it was a little bit over seven in the morning, just the time her mother arrived every time she was in the night shift. She waited for her mother to storm into her bedroom upon seeing the bathroom's door on the floor where Klaus had dropped it a few hours earlier, but Liz never came. She heard as her mother went in said bathroom, used the toilet, brushed her teeth and then entered her own bedroom to take some sleep of her own. Stefan probably didn't tell Liz what happened and she was grateful for that. Even if her mother had accepted her as a vampire, she was still the town's sheriff and Caroline hated when she put her mother in a position where she had to overlook her daughter's actions instead of doing her job. And she knew Liz was even less comfortable, although she never voiced it. But then again, that was the first time Caroline had killed someone since the following night she became a vampire.

Seeing as sleep had evaded her completely, Caroline stood up and walking to her dresser to find some more clothes she finally saw the little letter hanging with one of the pictures she had under a magnet.

_Dear Caroline,_

_Your bathroom door is fixed and I personally took care of the bodies in the woods. Stefan had been instructed not to say a word about what happened to anyone else, and he had instructed Bonnie, Damon, Elena and Tyler to do the same. _

_Nobody knows what Silas plans are. Hopefully Bonnie will be in a better state of mind soon and will be able to provide us with useful information about what's next in his quest to drop the veil and bring back the dead supernatural. _

_I made a mistake when I compelled some of my minions to take of you while I couldn't do it personally. _

Reading those words filled Caroline's heart of hope, maybe he also saw that she needed _him_ to feel safe, but the next words made her newly found hope vanish in thin air.

_But I won't make the same mistake again. I'm sending Marcel, my mentee, to Mystic Falls and he'll stay here for as long as Silas is still a threat. He has minions of his own, and I'd consider him - only after me and Elijah - the one vampire that could keep you safe. He had been personally mentored by me after all and he has the brains to know when he needs to intercede and when he just needs to watch. He's not coming by compulsion, and none of his minions are compelled either. He's an old friend, and he's grateful to me and had never betrayed me. Still I wouldn't trust him with any of my allies if Stefan Salvatore and your boyfriend weren't around to ensure no harm is to come to you. Stefan will take Marcel to the boarding house while Elijah and I keep trying to find a way to defeat Silas. Consider the protection extended to your friends as well.  
_

_I promise you, Caroline, what happened last night will never happen again. For as long as you live, you'll never feel vulnerable and unprotected again, and I'll make sure – even by distance – that you'll live forever._

_Fondly,_

_Klaus._

She read and read the words a few times, crying when realization finally hit her.

Getting herself together the best she could, she reached her phone - that Klaus probably collected from the woods – and dialing the number she knew by heart she did what she had to do.

It rang a couple of times, before the familiar and comforting voice answered.

"_How are you?_" he asked promptly as a greeting, concern clear in his voice.

"I'm better, but I need you to come here," she asked.

"_I'm on my way_," he said before hanging up.

"I'm waiting," she muttered to herself, as she opened her dresser's drawer to get dressed properly, as she was still only wearing the t-shirt Klaus dressed her with.

* * *

_AN.: yay, that was fast (I just wrote it all at once ;))_

_Thanks a lot for all reviews, keep them coming!_

_I'll answer the anonymous following:_

_justine: Silas already had the power to appear as he pleased before the triangle was completed. The triangle was part of the requirements to drop the veil. The minions were vampires, not hybrids. I don't think he can be with Caroline now because both of them as completely unstable emotionally (he completely and her when it comes to whatever she feels for him), so he tried to deal with things the way he dealt with things for a thousand years. Except it didn't work and he soon stopped. So he's not killing or having with anyone for a while._

_Guest 1: you would have to fill me about Robert and Lyanna as I don't know their story. If I understand correctly the proper understanding of his love for her would come when he realizes he had it all, but nothing made him happy because he didn't have her?_

_Talk to you soon. I'm going to write another canon story as soon as I finish one of the current ones I have going on. And don't worry, for those who read **An Unlikely Match** I'm almost done with the chapter. It's just the next chapter is so emotionally draining that writing it it's been difficult. But I'm one section away from completing it and sending it to Erin. I suppose the following chapters will be lighter and consequently easier to write. I'm handling very sensitive topics there and I want to make sure I do it in a sensible and thoughtful way._

_Talk to you soon_

_Babi_


	8. Misery

.

**VIII**

* * *

Time was supposed to heal all wounds, especially if you had an eternity ahead of yourself to work on that, but that wasn't what happened with Caroline. The witches haunted her in her dreams and the fact that she had helped to complete Silas' triangle only made it worse. She did it to save her best friend, but Bonnie only got more lost than ever. And because Bonnie, as well as Elena and Stefan needed her she ended up staying in Mystic Falls longer than she planned.

They were all supposed to go off somewhere to pursue their dreams, but the only one who left was Tyler. she knew she couldn't continue to fool herself into believing there wasn't something absolutely wrong in their relationship. Klaus' letter had been the last straw, and just before he left, completely resigned about their breakup she called him, and he looked back at her. She _had_ to confess the kiss. She couldn't let him go without knowing it happened. And she did what she had to do and much to her surprise he didn't say anything. Pain quickly flashed in his features, especially his eyes, but he only nodded, before turning around again and leaving. She hadn't heard of him since then. No one had. He left Mystic Falls the same day. Looking back now it seemed like he even seemed slightly relieved. She knew _she_ was.

And just when she thought things couldn't get worse, they went completely downhill.

_She's dead, Caroline. _Stefan's voice still resonated in her mind more than twenty-four hours later.

Her best friend was dead. Yet another fatality in her inner circle. Another casualty of a battle she didn't ask to be part of. Bonnie died to bring Jeremy back and while she was happy for Elena, both vampires were completely inconsolable when Jeremy told them the truth just a week before the summer was supposed to end.

And that has been _really_ the last straw.

Caroline was dealing with the guilt of killing twelve innocent people, of giving Silas even more power, and it hadn't been even worth it. Bonnie was gone forever and now the blond felt empty, lost, broken, hopeless.

And in moments like this _his_ face seemed perpetually imprinted in her mind. The way he had been there for her in that terrible night. The way he held her hand, the way he explained so calmly and softly about her nature, about her natural light, about how it all worked. And she believed him. She didn't doubt his words for one minute. He was after all a thousand years old. He had seen it all. He was wise and experienced. He knew what he was talking about and she wondered if he would know now the words to comfort her just as he did a few weeks ago.

She needed him, she wanted to go to him, she wanted him to be around, but she couldn't leave.

There was a knock in the door, interrupting her thoughts and tears. She had no idea who could it be and splashing some water on her face – every time she entered the bathroom her thoughts were him – she walked to the front door.

She didn't recognize the dark skinned man on the other side. _Probably someone from Bonnie's family_, she thought before opening the door.

"Good morning, Caroline," the stranger greeted.

"Do I know you?" she asked confused.

"I'm afraid not, my name is Marcel," he extended his hand, although it was blocked by the invisible barrier.

"Klaus," she whispered, tears falling from her eyes again.

"He's been informed about what happened to your friend," Marcel offered, finding himself more uncomfortable than he had been in many years. Doing missions for Klaus was always dangerous, but also thrilling. Searching werewolves, witches, slaughtering vampires' communities, tracking down the hardest people to find in the world. Most of the things Klaus trusted him had put his life in danger, but none of them had been harder than the one he had been presented at the moment. He could kill, torture, haunt, risk his own life, but he couldn't comfort someone and looking at how broken Caroline Forbes was in front of him he knew she needed comfort more than anything else.

"I can't invite you in, it's my mother's house," she changed the subject. She didn't want to talk about losing Bonnie for good. She had avoided talking about it to everyone, even Stefan and she wasn't about to do it with a stranger.

"I understand," he answered solemnly.

"Thank you. I know you've been… around. Somehow it made me feel slightly safer and I know you were the one to throw Silas away when he pretended to be Klaus," she offered remembering that particular day not even two weeks ago.

"We didn't know what could kill him then, I didn't know what he was going to do to you,"

She nodded, and feeling awkward about their position she walked outside the house. She completely trusted Klaus and she didn't fear the threatening looking man in front of her because Klaus had sent the person he trusted the most to take care of her. She didn't know when she started to feel like that about Klaus. When he became this person she trusted would keep her safe and protected. He had tried against her life at least twice, but it felt like an old memory. Something from a past life even. A fading reminder of who he was. But that wasn't how she saw him anymore. In her frail emotional state she had stopped fighting against how she felt about Klaus long ago. She didn't have the endurance anymore. She didn't have the energy. And in the end she knew it wasn't worthy it. She knew she would lose that battle sooner or later.

It was almost incredible how she had grown fond of his company in his absence. She had missed him when she thought she would be happy to have him away. Maybe at some point she had wanted him to go, but that was yet another distant memory. Only when she lost him she realized how much he had helped her while he was still around and how he did even more after he left.

Marcel observed her quietly. She had stepped outside, but she was yet to say something. Her eyes were lost somewhere behind him and there was no life in them. She looked as broken as the friend he had left in New Orleans and he wondered for a moment what they were to each other. He had done his research since he arrived in Mystic Falls and from what he had learned Klaus did nothing but bring misery to the small group of supernatural creatures and their beloved human friends. He had learned about the many unsuccessful times the group had tried to kill Klaus and he wondered why the Salvatores, the Gilberts, the Forbes and even the Lockwood boy – despite absent – were all still alive. He learned about Jenna and Carol and even Elena. Klaus had been ruthless when he attacked, but still it didn't make sense to Marcel that most of his mentor's former enemies were standing. He knew he was missing some parts. There was so much a willing Stefan Salvatore could say. He approached a doctor, some Meredith Fell that had provided him a little bit more information and he even approached the sheriff once to introduce himself and let her know who he was and why he was in Mystic Falls. But there were too many pieces missing in the puzzle. But his main focus was to fulfill his task.

And he did it. He and the day-walkers he took with himself had helped everyone in Klaus' list when the veil dropped. Caroline was at home that day and didn't even realize the witches that were killed once again in their feeble attempt to try to approach the Forbes girl and take revenge. They had saved Stefan, Elena and Damon as well, even from Kol – Klaus' brother, but no one could have predicted – or prevented – what Bonnie did. At first Klaus was infuriated. Marcel had never heard the hybrid so furious like when he informed the Bennett witch had died. He insulted Marcel and called him names they never said to each other. It was then that Marcel started to wonder what was the mystery about Mystic Falls involving the King of New Orleans.

He had a feeling there was something special about the blond vampire standing in front of him. She and her mother were top priorities in the list followed by the witch and the other baby vampire and then the Salvatore brothers and Matt Donovan. Those people should be kept alive at all costs, but if choices had to be made Caroline topped the list along with her mother. The only case he was not to choose Elizabeth Forbes to live was if it meant her daughter would die instead.

And observing the group closely while protecting them, Marcel even suspected he had figured out the main reason behind Klaus' concern. The blond was clearly the group's glue. She held them together, she put on a brave face, ignored her own pain and tried to make everyone else optimistic, not to give up hope and to keep fighting. But Marcel was the one that personally guarded her house and he had seen the many times she had broken down when she was sure nobody was around. When she knew her mother wouldn't come from work any soon and that Stefan and her other friends were unlikely to come. Normally it was during the sleepless nights that happened too often since he had been veiling the Forbes household. He never informed his mentor of _those_ nights. He had a feeling that it would make Klaus even more uneasy and, dared him say, hurt.

So Marcel simply said the girl was struggling and hurting, but also that she was incredibly strong and determined. He wasn't sure how much of it Klaus actually believed, but he wouldn't go through the details of the nightmares she had while she screamed as if someone was sucking the life of her. Maybe that was why the golden beauty rarely slept. Those nightmares seemed torturous, painful and haunting, but even though he wanted to make them stop, to invade her mind and send her demons away he _couldn't._ And maybe it was better that way.

And now as he stood closely to her, just a couple of feet away, he could see how much those weeks had taken their toll on Caroline. There was no life on her, only pain, despair and hopelessness. It was a shocking contrast to the Miss Mystic Falls pictures he had seen while investigating the lives he was supposed to protect. He had even come across a video from their graduation and although some of the spark he noticed in other pictures was lost, it was still like seeing someone else. He wondered if Klaus would recognize the shell of the woman that once was Caroline Forbes if he were to see her at this exact moment.

"I have something for you," he finally broke the long silence between them, while she looked at nowhere, a few tears falling from her eyes sporadically.

His words seemed to bring her back from her trance, although she didn't register them at first. It was only when she noticed he had one of his hands extended that she saw the white envelope.

Caroline looked at his eyes and hand and tentatively reached the light object, knowing too well what it held inside. Another letter, another way he found to take care of her even if he wasn't around, even if he couldn't do the one thing she needed him to do. Just be there.

"Thank you," her voice was weak, and even though there were few things that could be lighter than the envelope she felt like she didn't have the strength to keep holding it.

"If you ever need me, just call me, I'm always near," he informed her before nodding his head briefly, and walking away towards a car parked across the street.

"Marcel," her voice still far from strong or loud.

The vampire was in front of her again in a blink of eye.

"How is he?" she asked, another batch of tears bathing her pale skin.

He thought for a moment if he should lie to her the same way he had been omitting the truth from her real condition to Klaus. The truth was they were two broken souls at the moment and Marcel wondered if their reasons were the same. He wasn't around Klaus to see him with his own eyes, and the few times he talked to Elijah and Rebekah they were reticent about how Klaus was handling the situation. But he had been with Klaus for two centuries. He had known Klaus better than anyone saved the other two Mikaelsons. He knew his old friend was only slightly better than Caroline and that alone was frightening. Elijah had informed him of recent developments, although he knew the older Original was still keeping a lot of information from him. But Sophie couldn't hold as much, as he had a hold on the witch himself, even stronger than the one Elijah had and she had told him what Elijah chose to keep to himself. It was shocking and disturbing even, but Marcel had a feeling that the most recent threat to Klaus wasn't what made him so unstable and reckless. No, he knew Niklaus Mikaelson better than that. Klaus was hurt and _because of that_ he reacted the way he did to the threats that presented themselves. That was why he was even more impulsive, ruthless and cruel the past few weeks. That was why he did the unthinkable. And while Marcel suspected the main reason to his mentor's turmoil was the blue-eyed golden haired girl, he couldn't still wonder how.

"Coping the way Niklaus Mikaelson cope with things when he feels threatened," he decided to cryptically answer.

"What threats?" she asked concerned. Was he referring to the things going on in Mystic Falls or there were tragedies of their own in New Orleans as well?

"Nothing you have to worry and that Elijah hasn't fixed for his brother,"

"Are both Elijah and Rebekah with him?" she asked and for a moment there was a hint of hope in her features that didn't escape Marcel's always attentive eyes.

"Yes, in ways they haven't been in a very long time,"

"Good," she offered with a small smile, that held so much honest and thankfulness that actually touched Marcel's heart.

And that was how Caroline felt, in addition to being happy, relieved and comforted to know he wasn't alone. But soon her mind wondered if he needed her as much as she needed him. She had always read people well and although Marcel tried to cover his reaction to her question, she saw the uneasiness he clearly felt at the moment and he couldn't cover the brief moment of hesitation. He was hiding something, softening the truth probably and just as quickly as her relief came it vanished. He may have his siblings with him right now, but maybe just like she had her friends, it wasn't enough. There was a connection between them and they didn't have to mutually comfort themselves about the same things. He didn't care for Bonnie at all, but her friends did and while it was her pain, it was also theirs. He could try to understand how she felt about killing those witches, but he couldn't really grasp the feeling of it because he didn't felt any remorse when he took lives away. She had no idea of what problems he was facing, but she knew they didn't involve people she loved, or things she could discern. And that was why they could maybe comfort each other better than anyone else around them. Their pain was different, they were too different, but yet the same. Tortured souls troubled by pain and loss, loneliness and resignation, misery and deep tribulation.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Caroline?" Marcel asked, after seeing the little bit of life leaving her eyes again.

She about to say no, just like she did every day to her mother, Stefan, Elena and even Damon. But maybe there was something Marcel could do for her after all.

"Come by later, maybe by night, after my mother is sleeping," she asked softly, and he nodded, before once again walking away. This time she didn't stop and watched as he entered the car, but didn't turn the engine on.

* * *

_Dear Caroline,_ she read, as she sat on her bed, long minutes after she finally managed to get inside.

_Words can't say how sorry I am for your loss. It seems like selflessness and compassion runs in the water of Mystic Falls. I could never understand the sacrifices Stefan, Elena, and now Bonnie had done for those they love. I tried to make up my mind around it, but it's beyond my comprehension. I guess I became too foreign to human nature to have a grasp of what it entails. But I can admit to my mistake when it comes to humanity's power. I've always said love – and to extension humanity – as a vampire's biggest weakness because whatever makes you expose yourself makes you weak. I could only laugh at the foolishness of my brother and sister and every other human that allowed vulnerability to freely enter their lives. There's no sensibility in that._

_But I've come to understand that when controlled, such emotions can empower someone instead of weakening them. I saw that strength in you, engulfed by an almost blinding light. And that makes you invincible because nothing can break your spirit. I've seen glimpses of the same in your friends in the rare occasions I really looked at them. I can see it in Rebekah's and Elijah's eyes in the they look at me every day and I finally realized how miserable I am, how superior all of you are, but especially you. I may be the most powerful, feared, strong creature in the world, but I have nothing on you when it comes to a strength that doesn't involve an indestructible body, but an unbreakable spirit._

_And that's why I know that even if you're going through hell now and nothing makes sense, or the feeling that nothing is worth anymore, that nothing else exists except pain, misery and despair, that you'll only come stronger, that one day you will open your eyes and you'll feel different even if all those things remain there just the same. Because every day that passes your spirit let your heart and soul know that nothing will bring you down in a way that you won't be able to stand again._

_And because I'm not sure if you still remember it, I'm sharing with you what I've been contemplating since I met you. And I can assure at the top of my thousand years that there's nothing more fascinating, nor empowering._

_May this fateful morning come soon, sweetheart._

_Hopefully,_

_Klaus._

* * *

_AN.: No KC in this chapter and I'm not sure there will be in the next either. But I'll try to write things from Klaus' perspective - and not only Marcel's perception of it.  
_

_There are a few hints in the chapters about future developments, about Klaus' compulsion a few other things that with time will make sense._

_Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed it! Keep them coming!_

_Have a nice weekend!_

_Anonymous reviews:_

_guest 1: I don't see fluffy and confessions in the next few updates, but who knows. I don't have any chapters written ahead._

_guest 2: thanks for the GoT explanation ;) I can see some similarities in the way Klaus loves Caroline, the thing is Klaus is much more damaged and darker than Robert._

_justine: unfortunately Bonnie is no more and we didn't see it from her pov, but it was addressed she was in a very bad place before dying_


	9. Control

.

**IX**

* * *

Marcel did as Caroline asked and when he heard the sheriff was soundly asleep in her bedroom he knocked the front door softly knowing Caroline would be able to hear with her heightened senses.

It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for the door in front of him to open.

"Thank you for coming," she offered with a small smile, and he nodded, already seeing the small envelope in her hands.

"Could you find a way to give it to him, please?" she asked handing the letter to Marcel who looked at the words written in the envelope and frowned.

"I'm not sure I'm allowed to do that," he answered, but still he took it.

"Please," she begged and he sighed. He didn't know what Klaus thought of it. When the hybrid sent one of his minions to give him the letter he was supposed to deliver to Caroline, there was never any word about her ability to send anything back. Nobody knew why Klaus chose to write a letter instead of calling or even coming as he did the last time she needed him. But at the same time Klaus never said she wasn't allowed to communicate, and if she really wanted, she didn't need Marcel to make sure the letter would reach its destiny.

"Caroline, I'm here to assure your safety…" he started, but she interrupted him.

"And if he agrees with what is in the letter you won't be needed anymore, at least not here,"

"I'd have to ask…" he said, but once again she cut him off.

"Nobody can know about it, Marcel. Make sure one of your trusted people deliver it in his hands," she asked, her eyes pleading him to do as she asked.

"I would have to know your plan if I'm not allowed to tell anyone and see if it doesn't go against whatever Klaus has in mind," Marcel explained, his loyalty to his mentor screaming at him as if he was sired to Klaus, although the former slave wasn't. But he would be forever grateful – and loyal – to Klaus rescuing him from being just some rat in the streets in the unforgiving south centuries ago.

"My plan is very simple actually," she sighed tiredly, as he looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm going to New Orleans,"

* * *

Klaus felt like he was going insane.

He had his hands full with the witches that kept threatening him and his kingdom in New Orleans and other very inconvenient nonsense issues, but what was draining him was Caroline. More so his feelings for her. Not only he had to deal with them being unrequited, with the weight of his decision to keep his distance when he dared to have a glimpse of hope, but he also had to deal with her pain. It didn't seem like they were going to have a break any time soon.

There were many problems at once in New Orleans; still none of them took his peace away as the pain Caroline was going through.

He couldn't help, but feel fooled by Bonnie. He should have known the suicidal tendencies pertained to that group of people that were so willing to give their lives for the benefit of the ones they loved. He should have known sooner or later any of them would take that route because it was a route he could see _himself_ taking if it meant Caroline was safe, sound and happy.

There was nothing he wouldn't do for her and he _hated it_. He didn't fight his father, mother and every other creature that tried to bring him down for him to simply choose to die if he had do just to make a girl happy. A baby vampire nonetheless. A part of him still fought his love for her, even if that part was small and only getting smaller as days passed. But still it was there and it only made his emotional battle even harder to fight.

He painted a lot these days. He tried to use his talent to release and relieve the emotions that were creating havoc in his normally composed life. Nothing ever affected Niklaus Mikaelson, not anymore, he didn't allow it. He buried all his pain and feelings about being rejected since his first breath. Way before Mikael even dreamed of knowing Klaus wasn't actually his son, his father despised him. The Mikaelson patriarch wasn't one to show love to his children while violence was present much more often, but still he treated Klaus much worse than his siblings even before he knew the blue-eyed boy wasn't his legitimate son. With the others Mikael actually needed an excuse to be rough. He punished them when they did what they weren't supposed to do. But with Klaus it was never like that. He didn't punish Klaus for the bad. He punished Klaus for anything, even the most innocent things.

When he turned the rejection was only heightened, and it only became worse when he turned into a werewolf for the first time. That was when the rejection turned into hate and his father's quest for his death started. His mother – who at least seemed more welcoming while they were still human – casted a curse on him, preventing him from being who he really was.

For everyone who ever crossed path with him, Klaus' obsession in breaking the curse was only about power and pride, but it was much more than that. Even after he turned into a vampire, his werewolf nature was the biggest part of him, the _true_ part of him. And his mother's spell made him fated his true self to live cloistered behind the bars of magic for over a thousand years. It was suffocating and all consuming. It was like never being free, never being himself, never being true. He couldn't explain, but the moment he broke the curse, only a year ago he felt like he was breathing for the first time in so many centuries. He felt like his heart wasn't being held back, prevented from beating. He felt like he finally found himself. His search was done, but not only his search for power and control, but his search for himself.

And maybe that played a part in his newly found emotions more than he had initially given credit for. Werewolves were passionate creatures with deep sense of belonging, loyalty, and love. The love of a werewolf couldn't be compared to any other and it would always start with its family, then its pack and last, but not least its mate. That was why killing his hybrids in that ominous night had been so hard on him. Even if he treated his hybrids as his mere slaves and minions, even if he never showed much attachment to them as individuals, killing them was like killing a part of himself. That was also the reason that made him come from Chicago to Mystic Falls when he learned there was a hunter threatening Tyler's life. His first hybrid had long ago broken the sire bond and showed Klaus nothing but hate and contempt, but still the Original was drawn, even _bound_ to Tyler's life and couldn't stop himself from making sure his hybrid was well protected and safe.

And then he found himself in a position where not only he was going to lose the remaining of his pack, but had to do it himself. It pained him, it nearly destroyed him, but he had been working on his cold, dark, unattached persona for too long for it to simply submit to his now dominant side. One year was nothing compared to a thousand and he still had a long way to go.

But now the gate holding back his emotions was open and the battle between his werewolf side and his persona felt like a catalyst and Caroline only made it much more overwhelming and difficult. There was no stop, no slowing down. He had completely lost control and that was the hardest thing for Klaus to deal with. The only reason why he had survived for so long running from his own father. The only reason why he had overcome all death and gory caused by his own hands. The only reason why he was not only standing, but also the most powerful creature in the world was the control he had over every situation.

The control that allowed him to be several steps ahead of his enemies. The control that allowed him not to care, not to regret, not to look back. The control that made him have his way no matter how long it took. The control he only lost in extreme cases when his impulsiveness took over and turned him into a savage, but even in that situation the beast inside him didn't do what he wouldn't have approved. But his beloved control that was now escaping through his fingers.

And the lack of control made him respond even worse to all changes in his life. Especially when it came to Caroline.

That was why Bonnie's death had such an impact in _his_ life. In other times he would have seen it coming. In other times he would have been a step ahead, preventing things from taking a turn for the worse.

Not only the feeling of being powerless in that situation ate him from the inside, but the pain caused by her pain did so as well.

Her heart was broken and his had been shattered because of it. He broke everything in the den when Marcel informed him about the witch's death. He didn't need his mentee to tell him how Caroline was – although he knew Marcel was toning it down for him – he _knew_ it. He could imagine – almost feel – her pain and desperation for her lost friend. He could imagine how it was consuming her, extinguishing her light, turning her life bitter, her laughter inexistent, her strength useless. He knew that everything that made her who she was, that made him fall for her was engulfed by pain and grief leading the things he cherished about her to just fade in the middle of the darkness of loss. He had been engulfed by it too many times not to know exactly how it worked, even in a creature of light like Caroline.

But he also knew she would recover. He knew she would overcome it and raise her head, for the next clash, the following battle, the unavoidable collision. Reality's collision. She would succeed where he failed completely.

Living forever was a blessing paved with inherent torment. Immortality in a world like the one they lived meant endless fighting, nonstop threats and permanent and constant losses. Because although they couldn't be die naturally nothing really lasted forever, even if he was challenging that notion more now than ever. And he needed to remind her – so young, so naïve and so inexperienced – who she was and how she was going to rise from it all. He knew a fighter when he saw one. Perks of living for so long and Caroline was more than a fighter, she was a survivor that would probably outlive them all.

And reminding her of her full potential, letting her know things she may not be aware yet - but that he saw coming the moment he started to get to know her - he was also reminded of his own battles. And how challenging they were.

Elijah had brought one of the witches he trusted all way from Peru to cast a spell in their house to prevent the resident witches to go on a rampage against him. He didn't know what their plan was, but he knew they were gathering around, creating a covenant and Sophie didn't hide that they were going to resist his ruling. He had great plans for New Orleans now that his plans in Mystic Falls regarding one of its inhabitants proved to be unattainable. He had to focus his forces and energy into something else, into something emotionless because the turmoil of emotions going inside him was literally driving him insane.

So he spent days thinking of how he wanted the supernatural community to be in New Orleans. He was now a hybrid, a natural leader for both vampires and werewolves, even more so than he had been in the two centuries he reigned there before. He knew the species were natural enemies and could be lethal to one another and while Klaus was no pacificator, he wanted to resume his position as their leader. By force if he needed to.

He had expected resistance from vampires and werewolves, especially the latter, but he didn't see the witches playing against his plans. He had always had a good relationship with his witches. Whether by threatening or alluring them, it didn't matter; there had been few witches that had caused him problems in the past. He normally bargained with them, offering the protection they knew only someone like him could offer. The ones who resisted, he charmed, and the ones that failed to be charmed met the side of him they had only heard as bedtime stories.

So he was more than surprised – and annoyed – when the special gifted humans resisted his claim as the king of New Orleans when he explained what his plans were. He wanted freedom; he wanted the supernatural world to impose itself over the human population. He wanted vampires to freely feed on people in exchanging to keeping the human deaths to a minimum. He wanted werewolves to roam free in the full moon, living up their potential, embracing their true nature, being the predators they were. He wanted the ancient clans that abandoned the city to come back without fearing the now more numerous vampire population. He was offering the wolves protection from the vampires when they were vulnerable in their human form. He was offering vampires the protection from the eventual werewolf bite during full moons. A king needed his vassals and Klaus wanted everything that came with the title.

"Niklaus," Elijah approached his brother in his studio.

"Were you able to do what I asked?" the hybrid asked without looking from the painting in front of him.

"Yes,"

"Did you track all of them?"

"As much as I could as you didn't even remember their names,"

"I needed one thing alone from them, Elijah, knowing their names wasn't it," Klaus answered impatiently.

"You will have to pardon me if I couldn't find all of them," Elijah offered with a stern expression.

"Can't your witch make a spell and assure all of them are gone?"

"It would draw the attention from the local witches,"

"And why would I care, brother?" Klaus challenged his brother.

"Because they could think of it as a weakness and use it against you,"

"I don't care about those girls and I definitely don't care about whatever they could bear. If the witches find them and kill them, it would be a blessing in disguise,"

"So you have nothing to fear, brother," the oldest Mikaelson offered bitterly.

Before Klaus could say another thing, one of his minions entered the room, excusing himself for the interruption.

"It has just arrived, Lord Mikaelson," the young vampire handled the letter to the original that thanked him.

He opened the envelope carefully and started to read the small letter, while his brother observed him from some distance.

"I suppose that's all, brother," he announced after folding the letter and putting it away in the inside pocket of his jacket.

"I suppose that is," the other Original agreed.

* * *

He read the words over and over again thinking of what to make of them. For the first time in a long time he wasn't sure of which way to go. He could deny her, he _should_ deny her. New Orleans was a dangerous place right now, especially for a baby vampire like Caroline and his first concern when it came to her was her safety. If anything happened to her he knew _he_ wouldn't make it. _He_ would die protecting that girl because she was probably _his_ only chance of salvation.

_I started this letter so many times, in so many different ways. Justifying why I was going there, why there, why now, apologizing for it, but all those things don't matter to me in the end, so even if I say I'm sorry, I'm not, so I'm not going to pretend to be. I'm done pretending, I'm done ignoring what's inside me. My nature, my feelings, my desires. I can't continue to deny them anymore._

_There's nothing left for me in Mystic Falls. There is no threat here and my mother is going to be safe – although I wouldn't mind if you assured that. Silas is how a stone statue, dropped somewhere in the ocean, but this place… it's not enough for me anymore._

_The problem is I didn't apply to any colleges in New Orleans, but I don't mind getting into Tulane through compulsion. I will never lose my humanity and I will fight for it until the end, but I can't keep fighting my nature either and I would feel safer and more comfortable if I were to be guided by you. My emotions… I don't even know where I stand and before I finally acknowledge and address what has been growing within me for so long, I need to find peace with myself and what I am, I need to grieve my losses, to put the pieces together until I finally resurface. My spirit may still be unbroken, but everything else is shattered in more pieces I could care to count. There's no more strength left in me. I need a new start, I need to face the life I'm going to live forever, but right now I can't do it by myself… I shouldn't ask for your help, you owe me nothing, but New Orleans is where I should be now, it's where I WANT to be now. I don't know how to reconcile myself with that idea, but I know if there's someone that could help me through it, to help me understand everything that a decision like this could entail, that's you. _

_There's so much art, music, culture I want to see and there's only one person I believe could show me those things, or maybe the only one I want to show me. But I don't how to get from where I am now to the place where I'm ready to do those things. I don't know what to expect along with those things. I don't know the man that expects me and I need your help with both things. _

_Either way, I'm leaving to New Orleans tomorrow, but I hope you'll help me and prove me I'm right about the idea I have of you.  
_

_Hopefully we'll meet soon._

_Caroline_

Debating with himself a little longer he weighed the pros and the cons. He could say no, but would that stop her from coming? She could compel her way through Tulane all by herself, she could buy the tickets, and find her place in New Orleans and never cross ways with him. Or he could help her through it all. Keeping his distance, but providing everything she needed to be safe and to reach whatever it was she wanted. And he hoped that place was the Mikaelson manor as more than a guest. She was the key, she was the one that could change it all, she was _his_ last hope. She could fix what he couldn't. She could put together what nobody else could. And that was worth risking everything.

Taking his phone from the nearby nightstand he dialed the numbers he needed to.

"Marcel, how are you today?" he asked politely.

"I've got the letter. I want you to do as the girl requested, but I don't want you to bring her to the manor," he instructed.

"She's going to live with a human and everything she needs to start at Tulane on Monday is going to be taken care of," he completed.

"No, _no one_ can know her whereabouts. I want you to leave your best men behind to protect her mother and friends and you're going to come back here. We need you here,"

"Thank you, I'll be waiting for you tomorrow. I'll send you a message with the address where you're supposed to take her," he offered before ending the call.

"I hope this isn't the worst decision of my life," he sighed tiredly as he felt that although he was doing the right thing he was also bringing Caroline to the lion's den.

* * *

_AN.: I've been wanting to write a Klaus' centric chapter for a while now. I think he's a fascinating character and to dessicate all those layers, to look inside his brain, his heart, his soul is always a pleasurable trip for me. So Caroline is going to New Orleans, but not to Klaus. It's one step ahead the right direction?_

_Thanks a lot for all reviews I've got. You guys are amazing. And for those I can't answer through PM's there it goes the answers to your questions._

_Guest: I don't have plans to watch TVD next season, but I said I would watch season 4 and look how well that worked for me :P I don't ship DE in the show anymore, but I'm still a huge Damon fan and if they write DE properly I can see myself being a shipper again. I'll start a new canon story following this one where I plan to have DE as a couple, but I won't focus on them._

_Justine: a chapter that touches the readers is always a great chapter imo, so I'm happy last chapter touched you. Hayley won't make another appearance in this story, so don't worry about her. And Caroline won't lose her humanity. First because she's still fighting to keep it, and second because Klaus won't allow it to happen. He won't allow her to break to that point. He'll save her before it happens. _

_kacomu: Klaus never slept with Hayley in this story, but he slept with a lot of girls in the first month when he was back in NO as an attempt to forget Caroline. He failed miserably. _

_Have a nice weekend!_


	10. Changes

.

**X**

* * *

"Caroline," the original greeted as the blond stepped out of the car.

"Elijah," she offered a smile - broken and hopeless.

"I'm happy you're here," his lips also curled up, but his was genuine.

"I don't think we've ever talked before," she offered showing clearly her discomfort with this situation, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"I'm afraid we didn't," he extended his hand.

"It's nice to meet you and to know what Elena and Stefan said about you is true," she accepted his stretched hand, leading him to take hers on his and kiss it. She blushed slightly at the old-fashioned gesture not only because of the gesture itself, but because things like that reminded her of Klaus.

"I feel flattered by your words and trust, Caroline,"

"Thanks for keeping this between just the two of us," she offered, her smile just a little bit more honest than the first attempt.

"Elijah," Marcel greeted approaching them after giving one of his vampires' instructions about collecting Caroline's baggage.

"Marcel, thanks for your help and loyalty to my brother. If anything goes wrong I'll let him know I left you no other option," Elijah turned to the man standing by Caroline's side now.

"I did have other options, Elijah," the big vampire stressed. Marcel didn't know Caroline and he definitely didn't know why she was important to Klaus, but he knew for sure she was. That was his biggest motivation agreeing to her plan. He knew her presence closer to Klaus would be good to the hybrid whenever the teenager decided to meet his sirer.

"And we both know why you agreed with me," Elijah read his brother's oldest friend closely.

"I don't know why she's important, but I know enough to know she's very important,"

"Always perceptive, Niklaus is lucky to have you, Marcel,"

"I also want to thank you," Caroline turned to the man she had met only a couple of days ago.

"You trusted me and although I could have come here without your help, it's easier knowing you will keep my presence in the city a secret from everyone else and especially Klaus," she completed.

"I was asked to protect you, Caroline, not to question your decisions. Klaus asked me to help you with everything you needed and if you need to come here, then that's what I'm going to provide," he answered in such a way, and with a passion that comforted Caroline's heart. But what touched her weren't the lengths Marcel was willing to go to protect her, but the affectionate way he talked about Klaus. She felt good knowing that at least someone was loyal to him like that.

"I appreciate,"

"Marcel, I'm going to introduce Caroline to her new roommate, make sure Klaus doesn't find out about your presence in the city. Once I'm done here I'll go to you," Elijah offered, and nodding, Marcel excused himself from both and left with the other vampire that came with him.

"I'm really thankful for the living arrangements," Caroline offered, as he helped her with the luggage.

"Chloe is a sweet, southern girl. I'm sure the two of you will become great friends,"

"Does she know…" Caroline asked as they approached the two-store house front door.

"About the supernatural? Yes. Unfortunately she found herself dragged in the middle of it," he said in a tone that mixed sadness, disappointment, but also something else she couldn't identify, but knew it was positive.

"Is she human?" Caroline asked curious.

"No, she's a werewolf,"

"Did she trigger the curse?" she asked worried. A lethal roommate wasn't what she had in mind when she decided to move to New Orleans.

"No, she only carries the gene," he offered in such a way, that she knew he wouldn't allow her to live with a werewolf that could kill her.

"Let's make sure it stays like that," Caroline offered a nervous and relieved smile as they finally reached the door.

Elijah knocked and after a moment the door opened to reveal a beautiful girl, with blonde curled hair, heart shaped face, small features and sparkly green eyes shining in a beautiful way under long eyelashes.

"Elijah!" she greeted, hugging him and Caroline couldn't help but chuckle. It was funny to see someone jump on always-so-collected-and-refrained-Elijah like that.

"And you must be Caroline," the petit blond turned to Caroline with a big smile.

"I am, nice to meet you, Chloe," Caroline answered.

"It's my pleasure," the smaller blond offered as they shook hands.

"Let's come inside. I would help you, but as you're both vampires and I'm with children, I guess I'll have to leave you to that," the girl offered with a bright smile while caressing her stomach softly.

"Are you pregnant?" Caroline asked surprised.

"Yep!" Chloe offered excitedly.

"Congratulations!" Caroline offered before she looked at Elijah with a confused face, but he only shrugged.

"Thank you!" the girl answered enthusiastically, as if being pregnant was the biggest blessing of her life.

"I'm going to take Caroline's luggage to her bedroom, Chloe, why don't show her around and then meet me there?" Elijah suggested.

"You seem really excited about the pregnancy," Caroline offered, looking at the girl that couldn't be a couple of years older than Caroline.

"I am, that's been a dream of mine for a while now," the southern woman offered as she showed Caroline the kitchen and dining room.

"And do you live here all by yourself…?" Caroline and both girls knew what she meant with the question.

"This is an independent production. I'm not lucky with men and I thought maybe I could do it all by myself, I just didn't expect twins," the older girl continued to rub her small belly.

"Oh yeah, you said children earlier. Wow, that's… challenging," Caroline widened her eyes, but Chloe was upbeat.

"Well at least I won't have to go through this twice,"

"Do you know the sexes yet?" Caroline asked as Chloe showed her the office.

"No, my doctor said if I'm lucky I'll find out the next appointment," she clapped her hands in excitement and Caroline could only thank Elijah for finding someone so contagious to be around her. She could use the cheerfulness and maybe find her way back to herself.

"And what do you want?"

"I'd be happy either way, but I guess I'd be happier if it were two girls,"

"No correctly political answer, I like you," Caroline offered, smiling genuinely for the first time in longer she could remember.

* * *

The pregnant woman showing her the place she would be living was just everything Caroline used to be before the supernatural world, sans the twins part.

And as she babbled Tulane – where she was going to be a senior in architecture major – Caroline let her mind wonder about the changes she could already feel.

She had barely left Mystic Falls for a few hours and things were already brightening up. She couldn't say if it was the atmosphere in New Orleans, her new roommate, the prospect of having babies around in less than a year or the fact that she was closer to him. It was probably a combination of all that and she was convinced she did the right thing coming there and going to Elijah. Chloe seemed to be exactly what she needed at the moment. Caroline smiled back at the girl, sharing that she would also go to Tulane the next week – thanks to Elijah, although Caroline didn't comment on that small detail.

From upstairs Elijah heard the girls talking, and he could realize Caroline's subtle, but still present change of demeanor. Just the day before Marcel had given him a very detailed report about how Caroline was and he had seen it with his eyes as much when she arrived just ten minutes ago. But he sort of expected that effect – although perhaps not to fast – as Chloe was a very special girl.

Elijah stayed around, waiting for a moment to talk to Caroline all by himself and later rather than sooner, Chloe informed them she was going to have a shower, leaving the two vampires in the living room.

"Thank you so much for everything, Elijah. Chloe is such a sweet girl! I think we're going to be great friends," Caroline said almost enthusiastically. That was the cheerier she felt in so many days.

"I thought as much. She's sweet indeed,"

"Do you know anything about the babies' father? She deserves someone to be there for her!" Caroline couldn't help herself.

"I asked her if she wanted me to kill the guy, but she said it was okay, that she had been trying to get pregnant for a while and that it was less expensive this way than looking for a sperm donor and doing an insemination,"

"She really wants it, doesn't she?"

"Yes,"

"How do you know her?"

"Klaus has been protecting the werewolves in the city, there aren't many of them left and he wants to allow them to live here again," he explained watching her closely as he brought his brother's name to the conversation.

"Oh," she answered surprised by it. She didn't expect something like that. "Well, I suppose an alpha needs a pack," she said after giving it some thought.

"He doesn't want to be simply the alpha, he wants to be New Orleans' king,"

Elijah was nearly frightened by her reaction, as she started almost hysterically.

"I have to be honest, Caroline, I don't understand what's so amusing," he asked slightly confused.

"It's just funny that Klaus want to go all True Blood on us… in the 21st century nonetheless. Come on, Elijah, that's funny,"

"It is the best characterization of vampires among the latest productions about us," he reasoned.

"Now that's unexpected. I didn't think you'd know what True Blood is,"

"Don't let the suit convince you I don't entertain myself with modern's life poor culture, Caroline. It's far from human race's best productions, but there are some salvageable among the rubbish,"

"I apologize," she offered, still chuckling.

"I have to ask you, Caroline, because although I have a few scenarios in my head, I think it's more productive and trustful if you are the one to answer it," he changed the subject, leading her to be as serious as him.

"What is it?"

"What brings you to New Orleans?"

The blond was deadly serious then, playing with her fingers as she thought about the answer. She could easily just lie and say the first that crossed her mind, but Elijah had been nothing but kind to her since she contacted him. She didn't feel like she didn't want to find something else to distress her and lying to someone that was showing real concern about her would do just that.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question," she looked briefly at him, before looking away.

"Let me ask it slightly differently… who brought you here? Why are you here?"

"If you made a point to reformulate the question like that you already have an answer,"

"Fair enough," he agreed, while she still avoided his gaze.

There was a conforming silence between then. He didn't ask anything else because he knew she was honest in her lack of answers. She didn't say anything else because that was a can of worms she wasn't ready to open yet.

"Maybe I should find the questions before I learn the answers," she offered after long minutes.

"I've been around for a while now, Caroline, maybe I could help you finding them?" he offered softly.

"Would you help _me_?" she stressed and he knew exactly what she meant.

"I must admit that's a pertinent question," he admitted.

"I wouldn't have thought any differently,"

"I must admit Niklaus is challenging and more often than I like it, I don't know what to expect from him. He had been living in a way I'm not even sure he understands or controls anymore. I've spent almost fifteen lifetimes with my brother and I can't honestly say I know him. He's unpredictable, unstable, impulsive, careless, even cruel and evil, but from time to time I have a chance to ephemerally see something that resembles me of the boy he was when we were human. He was warm, caring, carefree and loving. He would have died for any of us without thinking twice. But he's been betrayed, attacked, unloved and unappreciated by his family – some more than others – and it had burned him. He's broken, Caroline, and I don't know if it's possible for him to be fixed, but amidst the tragedy that is Niklaus' life something changed. I've watched him shut his emotions down without turning off the switch, I saw him ignoring even the smallest display of affection and the simplest feelings for a thousand years. Nothing ever affected him, nothing ever disturbed him, he's never allowed the consequences of his actions and our family's and enemies' actions to affect him. He blocks everything out, but now he's open to something. He's allowing himself to feel or maybe even him has a limit and he can't control it anymore. The fact is he allowed himself to feel for you, to care about you and that gave me hope," he offered her a small smile at the end of this speech contrasting with his distressed expression when he started talking about his brother.

"That's putting a lot of pressure on me, isn't it?" she asked playfully although she looked very nervous.

"You don't have to do anything about it, Caroline, but I do believe if there's someone that can do something for my brother, that's you. But you don't owe doing something to him or anyone else,"

"Thank you," she offered slightly relieved.

"And to answer your question, Caroline, yes, I would help you to find the questions and maybe even learn some answers,"

"I miss your brother, I miss him,"

"There's nothing wrong with that," he offered seeing how she avoided his eyes, embarrassed.

"I guess there's one question I may already know," she offered after a brief silence.

"Go ahead,"

"Is it wrong to love someone like him?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

"No, it isn't. But it isn't easy either,"

"I'm fighting with everything I am to prevent it from happening, maybe it even happened already, and I'm just denying it," she confessed, a lone tear falling dropping slowly from her eye.

"It's understandable, Caroline. As I just said, loving someone like Niklaus is difficult, it comes with a high price to pay,"

"I know," she nodded.

"Chloe just finished her shower, I better get going," he offered, leading her to shake her head positively again.

She walked him to the door, feeling more conflicted and torn than ever.

"Caroline, there's something else that I might tell you as well,"

"And what that is?" she asked, feeling even more anxious. Was there anything else about Klaus that she was yet to know? Something that would make her situation only harder and more challenging?

"Fighting against love is futile and exhausting, even if everything about it is wrong," he said with his usual somber expression, before opening the door and leaving a very confused blond behind him.

* * *

"So, Chloe, I can't help but ask myself and I hope I don't offend you in any way, but I wonder why a pregnant human girl would agree with living with a vampire," Caroline asked later that day, as they had dinner together.

"I've been drawn to the supernatural since I was born, Caroline. I don't know if Elijah commented, but I carry the werewolf gene," the curly haired girl answered.

"Yes, I'm aware,"

"But I guess he didn't mention anything about my parents?" the older girl asked, and for the first time since Caroline met her earlier that day she didn't look cheery.

"Actually he didn't,"

"You see, longer before Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah came here centuries ago the wolves already lived around this area. For as long as Klaus ruled the city, the wolves lived peacefully with the vampires, although confrontations and blood baths happened from time to time, but he simply didn't care. He couldn't choose sides and the vampires knew that during the full moon they should careful,"

"Do you also know Klaus and Rebekah?"

"I've known about the Originals since I've known about my roots,"

"Oh," Caroline offered surprised.

"My family's clan is one of the clans that had been here since before Klaus and the French came, but after Klaus left a little bit more than a century ago things started to change. The vampire population was growing faster although Mikael killed a lot of them before he left, and as the wolves became a real threat to the vampires, a cold and silent war started between the species. My family along with others flew and only came back a couple of generations later. My father had triggered the curse when he was involved in a car accident that killed a guy. My mother never triggered it and having to live Ohio behind them, they decide to come back to their grandparents' city,"

"When they arrived the city wasn't as dangerous for werewolves as it used to be and they have lived peacefully here despite my father's situation every full moon. My mother had the same fertility issues I have and it took her a while to get pregnant, but she finally did and I was born a day after my parents thirteenth anniversary. But between the time they moved here and now a lot of things changed and about a year ago there was this rumor that Klaus had finally broken his curse and decimating packs around the country to create his hybrids. The vampires here were scared about the new species. The peace between them and the wolves was already frail and when the threat became bigger they decide to act before Klaus could and tracking down every clan they could, they simply ambushed the wolves and killed as many as they could, my parents included,"

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry Chloe," Caroline moved a hand to cover her open mouth.

"It was during last summer and I was in Europe. I don't know if they failed to track me down or if they simply ignored me, but somehow when I came back to plan my parents' funeral I wasn't caught," the green-eyed girl completed, leading Caroline to feel guilty about asking about the supernatural in the first place.

"And now I have to be even more careful, as my babies could be in danger. That's why Elijah brought you here, Caroline. He said we were exactly what the other needed and I think he's right," Chloe smiled softly.

"Don't worry if you're under Klaus' protection, nothing will ever happen to you," the younger girl offered, as that was one of the most certain feelings she had. She felt safe because of Klaus.

"Yeah, or so Elijah keeps saying… I don't know Klaus and I don't trust him, but Elijah is trustworthy,"

"Klaus is… complicated,"

"So let's hope we'd never have to meet him, I've heard stories saying most people who meets him don't survive to tell the tale" Chloe offered finishing her soda.

"Yeah," Caroline distracted agreed. She _couldn't_ meet him, but that was what killing her.

* * *

_AN.: sorry for the long delay, but this was my last semester on college and I had so many things to do the past month. I still have some things to do, so I don't know when I'll update the other two stories and this one again, but rest assured I will complete all of them. I always complete my stories._

_I hope you guys are still with me and there's much to Chloe story than it shows, and with time I'll cover that._

_Reviews are love, and inspiring, so keep them coming. Thanks a lot to all of you who reviewed the previous chapters._

_xx_

_Babi_


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